Within Dreams
by tiramisubites
Summary: Long story short, Wanda finds herself struggling with her inner demons as she struggles to be accepted by her teammates (mostly Steve and Bucky because these events occur after CA:CW). Along the way she starts developing feelings for one James Buchanan Barnes. Will her fears let her find happiness or will they be too much for her to handle?
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! Here's my second attempt at WinterWitch because I'm obsessed and this story kept poking at me. I hope you enjoy it!

X_X_X 

" _Have you forgotten me already, Sister?" Pietro asked._

" _No!" Wanda answered. "Never."_

" _And yet I still fade away," he told her. And it was true. Pietro's image faded at the edges like a quickly fading dream._

" _No one will remember me. Just like no one will remember you, Wanda."_

 _Pietro's face cracked and blood stained his face as they fell in tears._

" _Pietro!" Wanda screamed, reaching out for her brother. Her hand stilled as she saw the blood covering them._

" _Wanda? What have you done?" Pietro asked as his body crumbled to the floor._

" _No, no, no. Pietro, please! Don't go!" Wanda cried, falling to her knees._

 _The earth beneath her gave way and Wanda fell._

 _And fell._

 _Corpses reached out for her as she fell, pulling at every inch of her they could touch._

" _We remember you, Wanda. We'll always remember you," dead voices chanted around her._

" _No! Stop, please!" Wanda screamed, closing her eyes._

"Stop!"

Wanda rose with a sob. Tears streamed down her face and her hair clung to them as she shook her head wildly. Wanda could feel her heart hammering away within her chest as she continued to gasp for air.

" _Fucker,"_ Wanda muttered to herself. She ran a hand over her face and brushed back her hair with her fingers.

Suddenly her bed was too small and her room was too dark, so Wanda quickly got up and ran from her bedroom.

She found herself in the kitchen and decided that a warm cup of lavender tea would help her relax after a nightmare like that. Wanda took her drink and sat at the kitchen island, trying to think of anything other than that dream.

"Shit," Wanda groaned, placing her head between her heads. Even while trying _not_ to think about it, she was still thinking about it. She couldn't get the image of her brother out of her head and she could still feel cold hands clawing at her body.

Suddenly she was pulled out of her mind and into someone else's.

Wanda could feel freezing air whipping at her skin as she fell backwards. Fear gripped tightly onto her heart and Panic laced around her throat. All Wanda could do was whimper as she lived through someone else's nightmare.

With a great struggle, Wanda managed to stand up. She stumbled her way out of the kitchen and kept walking until she found herself outside the door of the person who's dream she shared. She touched her forehead to the door and realized she was right outside the Winter Soldier's room. Or, Bucky, as Steve liked to call him. But Wanda knew better and knew that the Winter Soldier still lived inside Bucky. But everyone tried to ignore that because Captain America's best friend couldn't be the Bad Guy. Not after all the shit they had to go through in Berlin.

Wanda felt the world around her come to an end as she heard the nauseating sound of bones breaking within her own body. She thought that would be the worst, but she was wrong, because the worst part was that she could still _feel._ Which meant that the person in the dream was still alive.

They were still suffering.

Wanda took a step back and called her magic to her hands, letting the spells weave through her fingers and slip into the room. She plucked the nightmare out of Bucky's head, leaving behind a peaceful darkness which could be left empty or filled with good dreams. Wanda knew that in a man like Barnes, his mind would be too haunted to ever fill in anything good.

Still, she supposed nothing was better than what he previously had.

Wanda stayed just a few minutes more until she felt his mind relax. She pulled back her powers and watched as it brought back a swirling, angry, black mass of smoke. Curiously, she touched it with her fingers. It absorbed into her skin and Wanda watched as the veins in her hands popped out in an angry blue-black color until the nightmare had been swallowed by her body.

With a roll of her shoulders, Wanda walked back to her room. She tried to ignore the slight numbing at her fingertips where she had touched the dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey all! I decided to post a second chapter in the same day since the first one was so short. Also, I want to let you all know that I'm probably not going to update as often as I did with You Found Me, but I will be updating a few times per week. Once I figure out a set schedule I'll let you all know. Anyway, I don't own anything (which I forgot to mention in the first chapter).

Enjoy!  
X_X_X

Wanda rose from her bed for the fifth time that week. With a sigh, she made her way to the Winter Soldier's room where she stood outside his door, letting her magic pull the nightmare from his mind again. She shivered as the black matter slithered it's way into her body, adding to the coldness inside her.

"Wanda?" a voice called behind her.

Turning, Wanda saw Steve poking his head out from his bedroom.

"Steve! I, uh, thought this was your room?" she offered hesitantly.

"No, that's Bucky's room. Did you need something?" Steve asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Um, not really? I just, uh, had a bad dream and thought that maybe I could talk with you. But then I realized it was too late, so I didn't want to wake you, which is why I'm just standing here… I promise I'm not lurking," Wanda said in a rush.

"That's alright," Steve chuckled. "Did you want to come in and talk since you're here already?"

Wanda shook her head.

"I don't want to bother you any more than I already did. And I should also get to bed, it's late," Wanda added the last bit when she saw Steve was about to argue back.

"Okay, goodnight Wanda," he said.

"Night, Steve," she said, quickly walking back to her room, trying to swallow down the sudden guilt for lying to Captain America.

X_X_X

" _You're betraying their trust," Pietro said._

" _I'm helping them," Wanda argued back._

" _You know they won't see it that way. They'll think you make it a habit to go invading their minds," he said._

" _Steve would understand. He's the one who taught me to help whenever I can," Wanda said._

" _You're pathetic for believing that. You're nothing to them but a lost bitch they found on the road," Pietro smirked._

" _You're wrong. I'm part of their team, I'm an Avenger," she said, biting back the doubt that threatened to spill from her lips._

" _They don't even trust you, Wanda. And they aren't wrong to doubt. You'll kill them all in the end, you know. You bring death to everyone you get close to. You killed mom and dad. You killed me. You killed the people you promised to protect in Lagos. The Avengers are next," Pietro mocked._

" _No, you're wrong!" Wanda yelled._

" _You're death, Wanda," her brother sang._

" _Death," emotionless voices began calling around her._

" _You're dead, Wanda," her brother's voice rang out clearly around her._

" _Dead," the voices sang around her, reaching out with cold hands to drag her down._

"No!" Wanda yelled, springing up on her bed while covered in sweat. Her bed sheets were tangled around her legs, making her heart feel like it was about to jump out of her mouth in fear.

Picking up her phone, Wanda saw that it was four in the morning. She'd only been asleep for two hours before the nightmares began.

Laying back, Wanda forced herself to go back to sleep, silently praying for a dreamless rest.

X_X_X

"Hey, Wanda, are you alright?" Steve asked a few days later.

Wanda looked up at him, dazed, as she tried to process his words.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"You seem a bit out of it," he said, stepping to the side to let his friend into the kitchen.

Wanda watched as Bucky moved around the room in silence, preparing his breakfast as he went.

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired," she said.

"Nightmares?" The Soldier asked, taking a bite out of his apple.

"Something like that," Wanda answered with a tired smile.

"I used to get them a lot, but I've been doing better in recent years," Steve added.

"Yeah, I've been getting them less recently," Bucky said. "I don't remember the last time I've rested so well. It must be something about this place."

"Don't worry, Wanda. Your dreams will get better. It might do you good to also get out of the palace more. Being in your room all day can't be helping you at all," Steve said.

Wanda nodded and stood up.

"Thanks, guys. I'll think about it," she said and walked out, heading straight for her room.

She'd discovered a few days ago that sleeping during the day helped her keep the nightmares away since the sun kept waking her up every few hours.

"Wanda!" someone called before she bumped into the owner of the voice.

"Shuri! I mean, princess, I'm so sorry!" Wanda apologized as she took a step back.

"Don't worry about it. But are you okay? You look terrible," the princess inquired, taking in the appearance of the frizzy haired, pale girl in front of her with dark circles under her eyes and wrinkled clothing.

"I'm fine, princess. Just a bit tired," Wanda answered with a forced smile that come out more like a grimace.

"Is it the room? The bed? Are they not comfortable enough for you?" Shuri asked, wondering how to help the young witch.

"No, no! Not at all, princess. Everything is perfect, I've just been having difficulty getting out of my head lately. I'll be fine," Wanda said.

"Alright… If you say so. But if there's anything we can do, please let us know, yeah? And please, call me Shuri. I feel uncomfortable when people call me princess," Shuri said.

"But you are?" Wanda inquired.

"Well, yeah, but it's still weird. Everyone here is older than me and yet they treat me like a 90 year-old-woman," Shuri said.

Wanda laughed and she felt something inside her melt as she felt the first authentic emotion in days.

"Alright, Shuri. Thank you," she said, and walked around the royal to finally rest in her room.

When Wanda felt like her back couldn't stand anymore, she got off the bed. She'd been dozing off for the past 12 hours and knew that if her brother was there, she'd be in trouble with him.

Deciding to take Steve's advice, she took a shower before leaving the palace for the first time.

However, she didn't know the lands and knew that in the night time, no one would find her if she got lost. Instead, Wanda decided to lift herself onto the palace roof where her breath was taken away by the view.

The far away lights of the city reflected along the ocean's surface and made it seem like another world existed underwater. Above her, she could see all the stars that never shone in Sokovia.

Wanda felt so incredibly small and insignificant in that moment.

"Oh, Pietro. You would've loved this," Wanda murmured to the air around her.

She sat on the rooftop and glance out into the surrounding forest.

"You'd have a field day running through the trees," Wanda said with a choked laugh. "I still remember the first time Hydra let us go outside for training… You mixed a handful of glitter into your lotion before putting it on."

Wanda laughed as tears streamed down her face.

"Then you went running as fast as you could around the field, yelling at the top of your lungs that you were a vampire," Wanda said as she wiped away at the tears. A soft smile appeared on her face. "You said you only did that to make fun of me for being so obsessed with that stupid book, but I know you were trying to make me feel better.

"You always knew how to get me out of my mind. All of my happiness came from you, Pietro. And now…" Wanda broke off in a sob.

"Now you're gone and I don't know what to do. I'm so lost without you, Pietro. I wish it was me that Ultron killed, not you. You had so much more to offer the world than I could ever dream of," Wanda hiccuped and felt uncontrollable anger wash over her.

Anger at losing her brother too soon.

Anger at Ultron.

At Hydra.

Anger at all the people who tortured her.

Wanda wondered briefly if she should be feeling sadness, too, because that was what she normally gravitated to, but anger overpowered her thoughts.

Most of all, she was angry at herself for being who she was, for torturing other people just like she'd been tortured. She _hated_ herself for being a monster that, with a few random words, could be brought out to kill anyone in her path.

And that _fucking arm-_

Wanda was left gasping as all emotions emptied her body and mind. She was left numb and cold, the only things she'd been able to feel for the past few days.

 _Not_ the blinding anger she'd been experiencing just a few seconds ago.

With a wildly beating heart, Wanda let herself down and ran inside the palace, all the way to the Winter Soldier's room.

With her powers, Wanda reached for the Soldier's mind only to find it in chaos as he tried to regain control of his own thoughts, of his own body.

Wanda tried to pick out the nightmare but everything was in a disarray and she didn't know what was a dream and what was real.

Suddenly she felt a painful tug on her left arm and used her powers to open the door.

Inside Wanda saw the man scratching the skin above his prosthetic arm and tugging, as if he was trying to pull it off.

"Mr. Barnes, please stop, you're hurting yourself!" she whisper-shouted.

The Soldier continued to scratch and began drawing blood.

"James, stop!" she said, using her magic to hold him down.

His eyes opened and he struggled against her hold, shouting at her in Russian. His eyes were empty and cold. Wanda could feel the anger radiating off of him.

"Wanda! What's going on?" she heard Steve yell behind her.

But before he could take another step, Wanda lunged at the Winter Soldier and connected her hands with his head, pushing the spells into his mind. Wanda's own head twitched as she read his emotions, pushing everything back except for the nightmare, which she brought into her own body.

Wanda was pulled back by Steve but she didn't notice. All she could focus on was the ice travelling up her arms, chilling her soul. Wanda couldn't feel her body. She couldn't feel Steve's hands as they tightly grasped her arms.

"Wanda, what did you do?" Steve asked again.

"I… I was only trying to help," Wanda stuttered.

"Steve?" the Soldier asked, finally waking up. "What's going on?"

His eyes met Steve's before landing on Wanda.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"You were having a nightmare… I was only trying to help," Wanda said.

She felt like she was suffocating in guilt and shame, although she didn't know why. She hadn't done anything wrong.

"Buck, your arm. We need to get you to the infirmary," Steve said.

The two men brushed past her as Steve dragged his friend out of the room to go take care of him. Wanda stood in the doorway wondering whether or not to follow them.

X_X_X

"What are you still doing here?" Bucky asked.

Wanda quickly stood up from the bed and walked closer to the man.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It looked like it hurt," she said.

Barnes rubbed the back of his neck.

"A bit, yeah," he said.

A quiet beat passed and Wanda shifted.

"Right. Um… I should-"

"I wanted to ask you about what happened earlier," Bucky said, cutting her off mid sentence.

"Oh, okay," Wanda answered, digging her nails into her palms as she crossed her arms.

"You pushed the Winter Soldier out of my mind. How?" he asked.

Wanda bit the inside of her cheek.

"I didn't exactly push him out. He's still in there I just…. I just pushed him back so he wouldn't bother you. And I took out the nightmare so he-"

"You took out my nightmare?" Bucky interrupted.

"Yeah," Wanda confirmed. "It was feeding him with all the anger you were feeling."

"How do you know what I was feeling?" he demanded.

The hardness in his voice made Wanda take a step back.

"I felt it inside your dr-"

"You were inside my head?" he cut in, clenching his fists.

Wanda saw his jaw twitching in anger and she drew her powers to her for comfort.

And protection, should it come to that.

"No, I didn't go inside your mind. I just picked it up-"

"Just picked it up?" he asked, incredulous. "Like what? A penny on the street?"

"No! It's not like that! Your thoughts came to me! If anything, you're the one who went inside my head!" Wanda defended herself.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth she realized they were the wrong ones to say. The Soldier wiped his face of any emotion and went rigid. Wanda could feel frost picking at her skin.

"I've heard all I need to. If you don't mind, I'd like for you to leave," he said in a flat tone.

"Mr. Barnes, I didn't mean-" Wanda tried to explain herself but he cut her off again.

"Now, Miss Maximoff," he said, going to open the door for her.

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows as she felt something heavy settle in her chest. She straightened herself and walked out, jumping slightly when the door shut behind her.

"Alright," she whispered to herself.

Deciding she was too cold and too numb, Wanda went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She nearly turned back when she saw Steve in there.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"She prefers tea," came a voice from the counter behind her.

Wanda closed her eyes and turned to smile at the princess.

"Shuri. What brings you here so late?" she asked

"Steve went to get me, he said his friend was in desperate need for my help. To make it up for me, he offered to make me coffee. Lucky for him I'm working on a project right now, so I need all the caffeine I can get. Otherwise he'd be drowning in guilt at having interrupted me," Shuri said with a grin as she took a sip of her drink.

"Right. Um… Steve, if you don't mind, I'll take some coffee. It's been a long night," Wanda said.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked as he poured her a cup of the black drink.

"Not really," Wanda winced.

"Alright, that's fine as well," Steve said, handing her the mug.

"Careful, it's hot," Shuri warned from the counter.

"What's that?" Steve said, taking one of her hands in his.

There were four little cuts on her palm in the shape of a moon.

 _Or nails,_ Wanda thought to herself.

"I'm not sure. I didn't even realize when I got them," she said.

"They look fresh. I can still see the blood glisten inside," Steve said, bringing her hand closer to his face.

"That's weird, Steve. I'll take my hand back now," said Wanda, placing her hand around the mug he'd given her.

"Is that coffee I smell?" came Bucky's voice from the entrance.

Wanda turned to look at him and froze. She saw him stiffen as well and before she could give it much thought, Wanda gulped down the hot coffee. Her eyes teared up in response but she couldn't feel the burn of the liquid going down her throat.

"Thanks for the coffee guys, bye!" Wanda managed to choke out in a slightly raspy voice.

Without waiting for a response, Wanda practically ran from the kitchen. However, she didn't miss the questioning way Shuri looked at her. Trying not to think about it, Wanda ran to the one place she knew she'd feel safe- the palace roof.

"Oh, my god," Wanda gasped as soon as she made sure she was alone.

"Pietro, you would not believe the day I had," she said, touching her chest as she felt it hard to breathe.

"Or night," she amended.

Slowly raising a hand to her throat, Wanda tilted her head in confusion.

"I couldn't feel the coffee. I know it was hot, I could see the steam coming out of it. So why couldn't I feel it?" she muttered to herself.

Taking her hand off, she furrowed her eyebrows as she saw blood stains. Wanda knew it must have come from when she was clenching her fists, but how did she not feel it? Was there something wrong with her?

"Pietro, I'm so confused. And scared, I think," Wanda whispered. The breeze blew her hair back and she closed her eyes.

"I know you promised to always protect me, but what can you do against the living?" she asked.

Wanda giggled.

"Remember when we were five and thought out house was haunted? We made a promise to each other that whoever died first would protect the other from ghosts and demons. Of course, we thought it pointless back then because we'd die within minutes of each other. We never prepared for this…" Wanda trailed off.

Tears escaped her eyes and she groaned as she wiped them away.

"Right. No more tears. You aren't here to comfort me anymore or fix my problems for me. I'll figure it out eventually,'' she said a lot more confidently than she felt.

Wanda laid back and looked at the sky. She imagined her brother was looking down at her, winking ever so often as the stars twinkled above her.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I decided to update today since I got finished with this chapter earlier than I expected. The next update might not be until Monday.

Anyway, I don't own any of the characters or their backgrounds.

Enjoy!

X_X_X

Wanda marched into the living room and sat on the coffee table right in front of Steve. He looked at her with raised eyebrows and put down his book.

"Wanda? Hey, what-"

She held up a finger which effectively shut him up.

"Your friend is avoiding me, and that's just fine. But he's not sleeping and that's not okay with me. He's cranky and tired to the point where it's affecting me, too. It's been two weeks, Steve. Get him under control or I will," she said in the most calmly threatening voice she could muster.

Steve looked at her with caution in his eyes. Wanda met them with confidence.

"You know why he's avoiding you, right?" Steve asked.

"To be honest, no, I don't know why. I only helped him," she said.

"You went into his head while he was dreaming, Wanda. Can you blame him for not wanting to sleep for that reason?" he asked her.

Wanda shook her head.

"I never saw what he was seeing. I only felt what he was feeling in the dream and even then, it was because his mind was too loud. I never purposely went into his dreams."

"But you took his nightmares out of his mind. That's still going in there and meddling," Steve gently told her.

"Can you blame me?" she questioned. "I couldn't just let him suffer when I could so easily help him. I don't think I was wrong in doing that."

Steve sighed.

"But who were you really helping, Wanda?"

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows.

"Are you implying that the only reason I helped him was to keep myself from feeling his pain?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Steve shrugged. "You tell me."

Wanda felt anger flush her cheeks. She stood up from the table and Steve stood up with her.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Steve! I helped him because I didn't want him to feel pain. If I wanted to, I could've blocked him out and let him suffer. But contrary to what some of you might think, I'm not a monster. I wasn't going to let him feel all of that when I could help him.

"All I did was pull out the bad feelings, the nightmares. I didn't plant anything into his head or sit and watch what he was dreaming to edit it like a damn movie."

Steve placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Wanda, calm down," he said.

"How can I calm down when you're accusing me of something I didn't do?" she exclaimed. "Clint understood! Tony didn't mind! In fact, he often encouraged me to help him when the nightmares got too bad because then at least he'd be able to get a few hours of sleep."

"What?" Steve asked, letting go of her.

"I did it for Clint and Tony all the time back at the tower. I've done the same for you, too, when your dreams got too depressing. T'Challa also has nightmares and I've taken them from him. He suspects it's me but doesn't say anything because he knows Shuri will take me hostage and try to study me," Wanda explained.

She smiled at the thought but it quickly faded when she saw Steve looking at her like…

Like…

Like Bucky did two weeks ago.

"Steve," she started.

"You've been in my head?" he asked in his Cap voice.

"Steve, I literally just explained this," said Wanda.

Steve shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know if I can trust you when you do things like these," he said.

"You mean help people who need it? You know I can't just ignore something like that," she exclaimed.

Wanda took a few deep breaths and spoke in a calmer voice.

"Steve, you know I'd never go into someone's mind without their permission. Not after Ultron."

"But you still took something from our minds. How is that different? How can you not even see how wrong you were to do that?" Steve sighed. "If you'd just accept that you did something bad and apologize-"

"I will not apologize for doing what I thought was the right thing to do," Wanda interrupted.

"Then I guess we're done here," Steve said.

"I guess so," Wanda replied, brushing past him to leave.

On her way to her room, Wanda nearly bumped into Bucky. With a growl, she walked past and went into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Idiots!" she groaned through clenched teeth.

With anger coursing through her, Wanda punched the wall next to her. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that she had punched the picture frame of Pietro. Glass pierced her skin, quickly staining everything red.

As if in a haze, Wanda used her left hand to pluck the pieces out of her hand and watched in amazement as they slid smoothly out of her skin. The blood dripped onto the carpet with the rest of the broken glass.

Wanda frowned.

She clenched and unclenched her fist in a panic, hoping to feel pain, but nothing came. She couldn't feel anything.

Looking down at her bare feet, Wanda raised her foot and held it hesitantly over the glass on the floor.

Closing her eyes, she brought down the heel of her foot onto the ground with as much force as she could. Glass crunched beneath her skin but that was the only indication to Wanda that she'd stepped on it. Opening her eyes, she saw glass sticking out as she raised her foot.

"What the hell?" she choked out, covering her mouth with the non-bloodied hand.

She carefully took the pieces out and left them where they were. She walked over to her bed and tried not to think about how she felt absolutely nothing with every step she took.

No pain, no ache.

Not even a tickle.

X_X_X

"Steve," Bucky said as he stood at the entrance of Steve's room.

"What's up, Buck?" the other man replied.

"What's going on with you? You've been moody," Bucky replied, moving in to sit on the bed.

"I don't get moody," Steve said as he shifted over to make more space for his friend.

"I beg to differ," Bucky said. "I've known you for nearly a century. You do moody better than anyone else I know."

Steve did his best not to pout but couldn't hide it from Bucky, who began laughing.

"Come on, man. What's up?" he asked.

"I'm just disappointed," Steve finally said.

"In Wanda?" Bucky asked.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at him.

"What?" Bucky asked. "You two were rather close before. Now I haven't seen either of you in the same room since the coffee thing about a month ago."

"It was weird how she drank that whole cup without flinching, though," Steve said.

"Don't change the subject, pal. Why are you so upset with Wanda?" Bucky pushed.

"Are you kidding me? You understand better than anyone why I'm upset. She went into our minds, Buck. She violated our trust and still refuses to accept that she was wrong," Steve exclaimed.

"Well, yeah. I was mad at first, but I think I understand her now," Bucky replied. "I mean, from what you told me, she only took out negative emotions which is what made up our nightmares. And from my experience, I never dreamt of anything. If she was actually inside our minds, wouldn't she have placed a dream in there? Or pulled from our memories to make us have good dreams?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know how her powers work."

"Exactly!" Bucky exclaimed. " _We_ think she was inside out heads because we don't understand her powers. But she knows them better than anyone. If she says she wasn't inside our minds, shouldn't we believe her?"

Steve hesitated.

"I still don't know if I can trust her not to do the same thing again."

Bucky groaned.

"Of course she'll do the same thing again. In her mind she's not doing anything bad. And I understand where she's coming from, Steve," Bucky said as he glanced down at his hands. "In Hydra we're taught to use our abilities wherever possible. No one ever taught us how to control them, how to keep them from expanding. And if you think about it, shortly after leaving Hydra the twins fell into the hands of Ultron, who most likely also never taught them how to control their powers.

"And you want to know what the worst part is?" Bucky asked.

"What?" replied Steve.

"That once they were freed from Ultron, they came into the clutches of this stubborn-ass man who butts into any situation without any regard to his safety or to the feelings of those around him. If he can fix the problem, then damn it, he's going to fix it whether you want him to or not. _Especially_ if it's something he can do so easily," Bucky finished softly.

Steve groaned and put his head into his hands.

"She's only doing what she's learned from you, Steve," Bucky said as he stood up from the bed.

Steve didn't say anything, so Bucky walked out of the room and decided it was time he had a talk with a certain someone.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow so here's an update for you! I know I said I wouldn't update as often as I did with You Found Me (which was pretty much daily), but I think it might be something like that. I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I don't have class until Wednesday, so I might update more than once every now and then.

Anyway, I don't own anything!

X_X_X

Wanda found herself on the rooftop of the palace with her eyes closed. She felt some disturbance behind her and opened her eyes to stare blankly up into the night sky.

"If you're here for an apology then you're wasting your time," she said without turning around.

She felt him pause before walking closer. Wanda let out a sigh and watched in confusion as her breath came out in a puff of white. She hadn't even realized it was cold outside.

"That's not why I'm here," replied the voice from right behind her.

"Then why are you here, Mr. Barnes?" Wanda asked, turning to look at the man as he sat himself down beside her.

" I just wanted to talk. I didn't give you the chance to last time we were in the same room," he said.

Wanda huffed.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked as he took in her lack of outerwear.

"I don't feel it," she answered.

"I'm the same way since becoming the Winter Soldier. I used to hate the cold during my time, though. Winters back then were awful" he chuckled dryly.

Wanda nodded and looked out into the field beneath her.

"Why are you up here?" he asked after a few quiet minutes.

"Why do you care?" she shot back.

Bucky shrugged.

"I guess I don't. Just trying to make small talk and see what the big deal is. Steve always loved talking with you," he finally told her.

Wanda pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She pinched at the skin around her wrist but still felt nothing.

"I come up here sometimes when I feel like I can't handle what's downstairs. Sometimes I even talk to my brother," Wanda confessed.

She snuck a glance at the man beside her and saw judgement flash across his face before he put on a neutral mask once more.

"You're judging me," she said quietly.

"Yeah, I am. Sorry, I didn't mean to," he said.

"I get it, it seems crazy. Why do you think I haven't told any of the Avengers? If they knew I talk to my brother in the middle of the night they'd think me insane and they'd trust me even less then they already do," Wanda spilled.

"Probably," Bucky said.

Wanda bit her lip as she turned to look at the Soldier.

"You know what, though? I don't care. Because at least talking to him helps me feel more grounded, more human than I feel anywhere else. And because even in death, he's still all I've got." she revealed.

Wanda felt her eyes burn and turned to face ahead of her. Unknown to her, Bucky was feeling something tighten his throat and he swallowed to clear the emotion.

"Well, Mr. Barnes," Wanda broke the silence. "It's been a pleasure but I should be going to bed. You should, too. I promise I'll leave your dreams untouched, be they good or bad," Wanda said with a forced smile as she stood up.

Bucky got up with her and frowned.

"I'm sorry about that. I appreciate what you did and I'm sorry I didn't realize it earlier," he said. "And please, call me Bucky."

Wanda wrinkled her nose.

"I don't see you as a Bucky," she confessed.

"Then what about James?" he offered.

"I might be able to work with that," she said with a slight smile.

"Very well, Miss-"

Wanda cut him off with a gag.

"If I'm to call you James, then you must call me Wanda. I hate all of that 'miss' thing," she said.

James softly laughed.

"Alright, Wanda. And just so you know, if you ever feel like taking my nightmares from me again, I won't complain this time," he said.

"Great," Wanda replied with a smile. "Goodnight, James."

"Goodnight," James said. "Oh, and Wanda?"

"Yes?" she asked as she glanced down to her arm where he'd reached out to touch her.

"I want you to know that you have me as well, for whatever you need," he said as he grasped her arm a little more tightly before letting go.

Wanda blinked at the warmth spreading in her chest and offered him a timid smile.

"Thank you, James."

X_X_X

" _You like him," someone said behind her._

" _You're wrong," Wanda answered. "He just offered his friendship,"_

" _And next thing you know he'll offer his dick," Pierto sneered._

" _Why are you like this? Pietro was never this cruel in real life," Wanda bit back._

" _I'm not Pietro, sweetheart. I'm all of your fears," he said with a wicked grin._

 _Blood poured out of his chest where there was a gaping hole where his heart should've been. His skin turned an ugly greying color and with every step closer, his body tore off in ashes._

" _Stop," Wanda said._

 _Still, she took a step back as the figure of her brother came closer._

" _Why would I stop? I nearly have you with me," he said._

 _Wanda tried to turn but felt something stop her. Glancing down, she saw rotting hands holding on to her. They were above her waist and she wondered how she didn't feel that._

" _Stop! Let me go!," she cried in panic as she tried to twist out of the hands._

 _Wanda kicked and yanked herself only to find her clothes torn, and under them, her own skin turning grey where death had touched her._

" _You're almost mine," Pietro said, little more than a skeleton now._

" _You'll go out with a pathetic flicker and no one will remember you," he said as he reached out to grasp her face._

 _Wanda felt ice prickling at her cheeks where his fingers were and she sobbed in relief._

I can still feel, _she thought._

 _Wanda closed her eyes and thought of her brother, the one who would hold her when she had a bad dream. She thought of their parents, who would build a fort with them in the living room whenever there was a thunderstorm, because they knew the twins were terrified of them. She thought of Clint, who stuck by her side after Pietro's funeral, making sure she was fed and clean. She thought of Steve, who made it known to everyone that she was under his protection and wouldn't let anyone harm her._

 _Her heart beat heavy in her chest and she felt warmth spread to her fingertips._

Wanda opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of her room. She let out a choked laugh as she thought of her dream.

Getting up, she rubbed her hand over her face and frowned when she couldn't feel her skin.

Running to her bathroom, Wanda looked in the mirror and sighed in relief when she saw her face still intact.

"Fucking dream," Wanda cursed under her breath.

Looking at the shower, she figured it wouldn't hurt to wash up since she was awake anyway.

Turning the water on, Wanda stuck her hand under the faucet as she adjusted the temperature. When it was warm enough, she stripped and stepped into the shower as she tried to forget the nightmare.

A knocking at her door brought Wanda out of her daze and she quickly shut off the water as she wrapped a towel around her.

"Who the fuck is knocking at," Wanda picked up her phone and looked at the time. She grumbled under her breath when she saw it was nine in the morning.

"Yeah?" Wanda asked as she opened the door.

On the other side was James holding two cups of coffee with a to-go bad under his arm. Wanda smelled croissants and her mouth watered.

"Uh, I food. Brought, mean. I- I brought food, I mean. And coffee," he stumbled out, flushing red as he avoided looking at her.

Wanda bit back a teasing smile as she stepped aside and let him in.

"Thanks. Um… let me just get dressed. I'll be right back," she said as she closed the door behind him and dashed to the bathroom to change. She'd brought in yoga pants and a tank top, thinking she'd be going back to bed. For some reason she wished she'd brought in something nicer.

"What the heck?" she whispered to herself.

Shaking her head, Wanda got dressed and pulled her damp hair into a messy bun at the top of her head.

"Sorry about that," she said, stepping out of the bathroom and walking over to where James sat on her bed.

"Why is it so hot in here?" he asked as he rolled up the sleeve on his non-metal arm. "And why are you pink?"

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Looking down at herself, she noticed that her skin was, in fact, pink.

"Hot shower," Wanda offered as she sat down beside him.

"Must've been boiling from the looks of it," he said teasingly.

"Did you come here with coffee and croissants just to make fun of me?" Wanda asked with a mock glare.

James laughed as he handed her a cup.

"No, I came with coffee and croissants as an apology. How did you know they were croissants?" he asked as he gave her the bag.

"I love croissants. Pietro used to tease me for being able to smell them before I even entered a building," she said as she took a drink from her coffee.

Wanda felt a passing warmth fill her core before it vanished just as quickly. James stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" she asked, as she took another, bigger gulp of the liquid.

"It's hot," he said, looking at the coffee.

Wanda shrugged as she dug in for a pastry.

She frowned when she didn't taste the buttery heaven in her mouth.

"Do you not like it?" James asked as he observed her.

"What? No, it's great, thank you. I just… Had a thought," Wanda replied.

James didn't believe her but he let it go, not wanting to pressure her into talking when he wanted to talk about something else.

"So…" he started.

Wanda took another gulp of her coffee and turned to face him.

"What are you trying to butter me up for?" she asked.

The tips of his ears turned red but he met her gaze with confidence.

"I want to know more about your powers. How they work and all of that. I want to understand you," he said.

" _And next thing you know he'll offer his dick."_

Wanda shook her head and tried to forget Nightmare Pietro's words.

"Um, to be honest, I don't know exactly how they work. But I guess the best way I can describe it is as emotions, thoughts, and memories being separate things. Thoughts and memories are in the mind whereas emotions are like an aura- on the outside reflecting what's on the inside. They're connected but they don't all function on the same level.

"But also, some emotions are stronger than others. The negative emotions in particular, are the strongest. They're also louder. My mind picks up on them without meaning to because they're just there, in your face. But also because negative emotions are more familiar to me than the good ones, so it's harder to ignore," Wanda explained.

James stared at the cup in his hands as he processed the information she'd just given him.

"But how does removing nightmares work? Don't you have to go into the mind to remove those?" he asked.

Wanda took another sip of coffee as she thought how to explain.

"Like I told Steve, I only pulled out the bad feelings. If you think about it, something as simple as swimming in the ocean can turn into a nightmare when you're drowning in fear. Fear and anger and panic feed into the dream to make it a nightmare. With all the negative emotions gone, your mind is left with nothing," she said.

"So you never knew what we were dreaming about?" James asked.

"Eh. I wouldn't say that," Wanda said. "I could make guesses on what I felt and what I knew about you guys. And if I'm overwhelmed by the emotions, I can feel whatever the dreamer feels in the dream."

James gave her a blank stare.

"Okay, so, for example, you. When I first sensed your dream, I felt fear and panic at falling. I could also feel freezing air around me. That by itself tells me nothing, but I know your story, so I can assume it was when you were falling from the train in 1945," Wanda cautiously explained.

"The same goes for Steve. When his dreams get too depressing I can feel my heart hammering away in my chest right before I'm surrounded by numbing coldness. Again, this by itself tells me nothing about the dream, but from what I've heard about him, it must've been when he crashed that plane into the Arctic."

James took a bite out of his croissant and looked up at her ceiling.

"You were never in our heads," he stated.

Wanda gave him a grim smile.

"No. I couldn't even if you wanted me to. Not after Ultron," she mumbled.

"Could the reason you read nightmares so well be because you're continuously living within one in your head?" James asked.

Wanda forced out a laugh.

"Maybe. But that is too deep a conversation for us yet, Sergeant Barnes," she teased, elbowing his arm lightly.

"Alright, alright. Thank you for explaining it for me, Wanda. I really am sorry for my behavior in the past month," James said.

"Don't worry, I understand where the anger came from," she replied, taking her cup and standing up.

"I could use more coffee," she said to herself.

"I'll accompany you," James said. "I can also toss this in the garbage while I'm there."

Wanda smiled and nodded. Together they exited her room and made their way to the kitchen.

"You know, I remember Steve telling me you weren't a big fan of coffee," he said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I like tea better, but coffee does a better job at keeping me awake," Wanda answered with a grin.

When they stepped into the kitchen Steve was cleaning up his breakfast.

"Buck, where were you this morning? I went to your room but you weren't there," Steve said.

He moved aside as Wanda made her way to the sink.

"Oh, yeah. I went out for coffee and croissants," James answered, raising his trash as proof before disposing of it.

Wanda washed her hands with warm water before moving to the coffee machine.

"Well, you missed a good breakfast. T'Challa came with donuts and offered to show us the Dora Milaje training later today," Steve said as he went back to the sink to wash the remaining dishes.

"Shit!" he yelled as he burned his hand under the hot water that came out as soon as he turned on the faucet.

"Language!" Wanda grinned automatically.

It faded as she turned to see him looking at her without his usual eye roll.

"I mean, are you okay?" she asked, retreating into herself.

"What the hell, Wanda?" Steve questioned.

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, she likes it boiling. Are you okay?" Bucky asked, moving to inspect Steve's hand.

"That's not normal, babe," Steve said looking at her hands.

Wanda hid her red hands and blinked back the tears at his nickname for her.

"It's fine, it doesn't hurt," she said with a shrug.

"What were those marks?" he asked.

James turned to look at her.

"What marks?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she said through clenched teeth.

"Cuts," Steve said.

"What? How did I not notice that?" James exclaimed, leaving Steve to go look at her hands.

"It was an accident, alright? I accidentally broke some glass. I'm fine," she spilled.

"Are you purposely hurting yourself?" James asked, getting way too close and looking far too concerned.

Wanda opened her mouth to say no, but then she realized something.

She _was_ purposely hurting herself. With the glass, anyway. The hot water she honestly didn't know it was burning her.

"You are!" exclaimed Steve.

"No, wait. It's not like that you guys," she tried to explain.

But at that moment they both had a protective glint in their eyes and she knew there would be no way to make them understand what was really happening.

"It's my fault," Steve exhaled.

Both James and Wanda turned sharply to look at him.

"No," she said, taking a step towards him and poking him in the chest. "Don't you ever fucking say that because it is _not_ your fault. Like I said, it was an accident with some glass in my room."

Steve smiled weakly at her.

"Language," he said.

Wanda rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh out.

"Please don't think it was you. I'll tell you what's going on when you're ready to hear it, but just know that this has nothing to do with you. Alright?" she asked.

"Sure, kid. I can live with that," he said.

Wanda and James exchanged a look and she took in a deep breath.

"You're too stubborn for your own good," she said.

"Reminds me of someone else I know," James said as he handed her the cup of coffee that she had put down when Steve cursed.

"I'm done with you two," Wanda said as she left the pair in the kitchen.

"She's worrying me," Steve said to Bucky once he was sure Wanda wasn't within hearing range.

"Up until a few minutes ago you two weren't even talking," Bucky accused.

"It doesn't mean I don't worry for her, though. I've been watching her," Steve said.

"Well that's not creepy," Bucky smirked.

"Shut up. Being away from her gave me the chance to observe her with neutral eyes. She's losing weight, Buck. She's got dark circles under her eyes that she's covering with makeup. Wanda doesn't use makeup beside mascara," Steve tried to make Bucky understand.

"It's probably because she's not sleeping at night," Bucky supplied.

Steve gave him a questioning look.

"Last night I decided to talk to her, so I went to her room but she wasn't there. I looked all over the palace until I found her a few hours later on the roof. She told me she likes to go there to talk to her brother," Bucky explained.

Steve took in a deep breath.

"She's still not over that," he stated.

"She might never be, Steve. Especially if she feels like she can't count on us as family."

"But we _are_ her family," Steve argued.

" _I_ know that, _you_ know that, but how is _she_ supposed to know that? We haven't been acting much like a family this past month. We've been jerks to her," Bucky said.

"You're right," Steve said. Then he jerked his head backwards. "Wait, why did she tell you she talks to her brother, but she didn't tell me?"

Bucky rolled his eyes.

"I'm the newest to her. Plus, I'm not an official Avenger. It's easier to talk to people who aren't on your superhero team," he answered.

"Right," Steve said. Deep down, Steve knew his two friends might end up finding comfort in each other in ways they didn't quite see yet.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, everyone.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the great Stan Lee, who passed away earlier today. I've been trying to process it, and while it's upsetting, I'm content with knowing that he's at peace now.

His legacy will continue to live on and inspire others.

X_X_X

"Wanda," Pietro's voice came from somewhere in front of her.

"Where are you?" she asked.

Wanda took a few steps forward and was thrust into the sunlight.

"What?" she asked herself.

Before her a building formed and she could see people walking inside.

Suddenly the earth cracked and the building tilted.

"The people! They're gonna die!" she yelled hoping that someone would take notice.

Everyone kept going on about their business as if nothing was wrong.

"Help them!" Wanda yelled.

"Wanda, don't just stand there, help us!" Natasha said as she spoke into a radio about bringing in the jets.

Wanda locked her fear deep inside her and called her magic to her hands. Thinking quickly, she formed it into a cradle and rose it to the very top of the building.

"Jump in!" she called out.

Everyone crammed into her powers and she went down the building to each floor, urging people to jump into her cradle which was rapidly growing as more people got in.

Sweat ran down Wanda's face as she held onto everyone and gently brought them down when everyone was out of the building. As soon as her powers touched the ground, the building broke down and metal pieces went flying everywhere. In a panic, Wanda made a bubble around everyone she had just saved.

The dust settled and the Avengers stood looking at her in horror.

"What is it?" she asked, looking down at her expecting to see blood.

"Wanda… What have you done?" Steve asked. Disappointment dripped heavily from his words.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

She took a step closer to them but they stepped back.

Hurt blocked Wanda's throat.

"Wanda," came Pietro's voice from behind her.

Hesitantly, Wanda turned to face him and found him inside her bubble, with his face turning purple.

"Why… did you… do this?" he choked out before falling on the pile of corpses.

In shock, Wanda let go of her powers and the bodies spilled out, all purple-faced from the lack of oxygen.

"We can't have you on the team anymore," Tony said.

"You're a murderer. You're never going to change," Vision told her.

"No, no. This is wrong. I saved them from the building. I don't know what happened, but I didn't kill them! You have to believe me, I didn't kill them!" Wanda cried.

Tears blurred her vision but she could still see as Clint walked closer to her. Desperately, she clung on to him.

"Clint, please, you have to believe me! You know I didn't kill them!" she said between sobs.

"Oh, Wanda," he said as he pulled her in for a hug. She cried onto his shoulder but gasped as she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.

"I'm sorry, Wanda. But we can't trust you," he said.

"Clint?" she said in shock.

She glanced down in time to see the knife being pulled out. Blood gushed from the wound and she staggered backwards.

"Don't worry, I've got you," Pietro said from behind her.

Bony hands grasped her shoulders and she looked back to see her brother's face half torn off, revealing his skull.

"No," she said. Her voice trembled in fear.

"Let's take you home," Pietro said.

In that moment the ground opened up and Wanda fell backwards. She saw her brother and the rest of the Avengers looking down at her as she continued to descend. The hole above her grew bigger and she saw bodies falling quickly.

Arms tangled around her and cold lips touched her ear as they whispered, "Welcome home."

Wanda screamed for help but the bodies fell on top of her, drowning her in an ocean of decay.

Wanda opened her mouth once more to beg for someone to save her, but the slippery tendrils of death slid into her mouth and filled her with heaviness and numbness. Wanda choked and scratched at her mouth as she struggled to get it out. She could feel it slipping further down her body and she scratched at her throat, her arms, her chest, as she tried desperately to get the thing out of her.

"Ugghrr Nnnn!"

"Nnn-"

"No!" Wanda screamed as she rose up in bed.

She quickly dashed into her bathroom and threw up into the toilet. When she was done she cleaned her mouth with toilet paper and flushed the contents.

Wanda leaned back onto the bathtub and coiled into herself, sobbing.

"Why?" she asked, pulling back to stare at the ceiling. "Wasn't losing Pietro enough?"

She continued to cry on the bathroom floor until she couldn't feel anymore.

Wanda numbly got up and looked in the mirror, judging the girl in there, with her frizzy brown hair and blotchy face. She looked awful.

Somewhere deep within Wanda she recognized the reflection as being her own and stripped out of her clothes, stepping into the shower. She turned the faucet, letting nothing but hot water wash down upon her.

Wanda felt absolutely nothing.

"FUCK YOU!" Wanda screamed as she punched the clear shower door.

Glass rained down on her hand once more and she glared at the blood pouring from her hand, down the drain.

She grabbed her loofa and angrily scrubbed at her arms, at her chest, at her throat.

She scrubbed until she could feel some warmth from the friction and kept scrubbing so she could remember what it meant to feel something.

Wanda sighed in defeat and she sat in the shower, moving the glass pieces aside with her foot. More cuts formed and it was just another reminder that she couldn't feel.

She leaned against the shower wall and closed her eyes, letting the water fall on her as she rested her eyes for a few seconds. Minutes. Maybe hours.

Time was no longer something Wanda knew how to measure.

A knock at her door woke her up.

Wanda marveled at how her body ached and how she felt cold for the first time in ages.

Turning off the water, Wanda got up and wrapped a towel around herself.

"I'll be out in a minute," Wanda called out when she heard another knock.

Walking over to her dresser, Wanda pulled on a pair of leggings and a turtleneck shirt. She let her hair hang dripping down her back.

"Yeah?" she said when she opened the door.

Shuri stood on the other side with a slight frown.

"Hey, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm alright," Wanda answered. "You?"

"Great," Shuri replied. "Look, I'm here because I received a notice on my computer that the water was running for the past six hours. I just wanted to see if there was a problem."

"No, no problem. I just fell asleep in the shower, that's all," Wanda said.

"Riiight. Okay, um, don't let it happen again, yeah?" Shuri said glancing down.

"Sure, Shuri. I apologize. I won't let it happen again," Wanda said with a tired smile.

"What happened to your hand?" Shuri asked coldly.

"What?"

Wanda looked down and saw that her right hand was completely covered in gashes from where the glass pierced her skin.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just clumsiness," Wanda lied.

Shuri met Wanda's gaze and raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Alright, you're coming with me," Shuri said, snatching Wanda's left hand and pulling her to the other side of the palace where her lab was located.

"Was I right?" Steve asked as soon as the princess opened the door.

"See for yourself," Shuri said angrily as she let go of Wanda and collected some materials from around the room.

Wanda sneezed.

"Bless you," Steve said automatically.

"What's going on?" Wanda slurred.

"I'm worried about you. I asked the princess to check on you to see whether I was justified or just imagining things," Steve said.

"Sit," Shuri demanded, pointing to a white table.

Too tired to fight back, Wanda obeyed the young royal.

"Now open your mouth and give me your hand," she ordered.

Once more, Wanda did as she asked.

"Why are you taking her temperature?" Steve asked.

"If I can feel her burning up through the sleeve of her shirt, then she probably has a fever," Shuri explained.

Wanda watched as Shuri cleaned her wounds.

A beeping startled her back awake. Shuri took the thermometer out of Wanda's mouth and huffed in frustration.

"One hundred and five," she said. "What have you been doing to yourself, Wanda?"

Wanda blinked her eyes as she tried to clear her vision. Everything was bleeding into each other.

"I think my head hurts," she said in answer.

"You think?" Shuri snapped.

Taking a deep breath, Shuri continued to clean Wanda's cuts and wrapped her hand in a bandage.

"You'll be staying here, where I can make sure you don't hurt yourself anymore," Shuri said in a clipped voice.

Without looking at Wanda, Shuri left the lab.

"She's mad at me," Wanda heard herself say.

"Can you understand why?" Steve asked her softly.

Wanda nodded.

"I know what this looks like, Steve. But whatever you think it is, it's not."

"Help me understand?" Steve asked.

"I don't know where I'd start. I don't even know what's going on with me right now," she confessed.

Steve walked closer and sat beside her on the table.

He took her good hand in his.

"Why were you in the shower for six hours?" he asked.

Wanda tilted her head to the side.

"Was she really there for that reason?" she asked.

"No. I asked her to go visit you this morning but she didn't want to be weird about it. It just so happens that she really does monitor water usage in all the bathrooms and kitchens, so she used that as an excuse to go talk to you," Steve told her.

Wanda glanced down at the hand Steve was holding. She felt so small and lost.

"I felt like death," she confessed. "I needed to wash it off. I didn't mean to fall asleep in the shower."

Steve let go of her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

"And the hand?"

Wanda grimaced.

"I punched the glass door in my shower," she mumbled.

"Why?" he exclaimed, pulling back enough to look at her.

"I was angry," she said with a shrug.

"Wanda…" Steve sighed.

Wanda ignored him and snuggled into his side. She decided she liked being sick. It made her feel again, even if it was pain.

X_X_X

A/N: I don't own any of the characters or their backgrounds. There may also be another chapter posted tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone, here's the second chapter I said I'd update tonight. Enjoy!

(I don't own any of the characters or places mentioned in this fic.)

X_X_X

Wanda woke up to the worst headache she could remember ever having. She sat up and found herself on a bed instead of the white table. Looking around, she saw multiple cameras around her and she rolled her eyes.

Getting up, Wanda walked around the lab as she tried to distract herself. She came across a computer and pressed the spacebar to wake it up. Twenty hundred hours and thirty two minutes flashed on the screen before asking for the password.

Wanda moved to the door and tried to open it but found it locked. With a groan, Wanda lightly banged her head on the metal frame. She closed her eyes as the coolness of the metal helped her headache calm down.

"Wanda?" came a familiar voice from right in front of her.

Raising her head, Wanda saw James on the other side of the door.

"Sup," she said before resting her head back on the frame.

"Wanda, I'm going to open the door. Can you move?" James asked.

With a ridiculously long sigh, Wanda took a step back and watched with mild frustration as the doors opened easily for him.

"Why can't I leave?" Wanda asked as the doors closed behind James.

"Shuri doesn't think you'll be safe in your room," he revealed.

Wanda nodded.

"What about Steve? Couldn't he fight for me?"

James chuckled. "He's already fighting for you. He made a detailed plan about how we could all take turns looking over you to make sure you stay safe within your room"

"So? Why am I still here?" Wanda asked.

"Shuri ordered for someone to fix your shower door first. She said once that was done, she would consider letting you move back. But that will take days. In the meantime, you're on trial," James said.

Wanda walked over to her bed and plopped down. James sat down next to her a lot more gracefully.

"My head hurts," she said.

"Oh, Shuri left some painkillers on the nightstand," he said, pointing to the stand right next to her.

How did she miss that? There was even a glass of water.

"Huh," Wanda huffed but took the pills anyway. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she noticed she had finished the entire thing of water.

"So… What happened?" James asked.

Wanda groaned and ran her hands over her face.

"I'm pretty sure you already heard it from Steve," she said.

"I want to hear it from you," he answered.

Wanda glanced over to James and he offered her a gentle smile. She gave him a small lift of her lips.

"It was..."

Wanda trailed off with a gasp as she felt a sharp stab in her abdomen. Panic ran through her as she thought she was reliving her nightmare, but the deafening sound of water rushing around her calmed her down. But she still felt anger for the loss of… something. And fear paralyzed her at the knowledge that she would meet death.

Then she was falling.

"No," she whispered.

"...Da. W...nda. Wanda!"

She finally registered the voice that was calling out for her as belonging to James, but she ignored it as she stood up and walked to the corned of the lab.

"Wanda, what's going on?" James asked as he grasped her shoulder. Wanda brushed him off with her powers and kept walking.

Looking up at the ceiling, Wanda let her powers slip from her hands and climb up into the room above her. She felt the taste of fear and anger on her tongue, bitter and exotic.

The nightmare floated back down to her in its usual angry mass of black and she closed her eyes as she felt it drop into her hand.

"What the hell?" James breathed out beside her.

"The hell was that?" he demanded.

"A nightmare," Wanda offered, blinking out of her daze.

"And the black veins are part of the nightmare, too?" he asked in disapproval.

"Yep. That's what happens when I absorb them," she said in a calm voice.

Wanda turned to walk back to the bed.

"What do you mean, absorb them?" he asked with a hard tone in his voice.

She sighed.

"James, if you're going to get mad at me, too, then I don't think-"

"No!" he cut her off. "I'm not going to get mad."

Wanda gave him a pointed stare.

"Okay, so I might get mad. But I just want to understand, more than anything," he said.

Wanda sat on the bed and pulled her legs up to wrap her arms around them. James stood with his arms crossed in front of her.

"I'm not sure exactly why, but when I pull a nightmare out of someone, it takes form of the black thing you saw. When I did the same thing for Clint and Tony before, I had no idea that was what happened. But maybe that explains why there were so many nightmares every night, the thing probably just floated from one person to another," Wanda mused.

James narrowed his eyes at her.

"What you're saying implies that the black thing carries nightmares into whatever it goes into," he said.

Wanda shrugged. "I'm not sure how that works, it's just a thought."

James sat down next to her.

"If you think that, then why do you still take these things from us? Why do you suffer our nightmares?"

"I'm suffering my own nightmares," Wanda explained. "And it's easier for me to take them away from you and into myself because I don't have to invade your minds, as you guys like to think. If I do it any other way, then I _would_ have to go in."

"If you could explain this to-" James started but stopped when Wanda let out a dry laugh.

"I know my team, Sergeant Barnes. They've been mind controlled one too many times to even give me a chance at helping them if it meant I had to go inside their mind. I know I'm partially to blame for that," Wanda said softly. Regret rang loudly in her words.

James couldn't say anything to that because he knew it was true. He trusted her, but going into his mind was something that even he was unwilling to let her do.

"I'm a bit tired," Wanda said.

"Oh, right. Let me just take your temperature first. Shuri sent me down for that and I nearly forgot," he chuckled.

James reached over to grab the thermometer from the nightstand beside her and turned it on. He stretched his arm so he could put the thermometer in her mouth and without questioning it, Wanda let him.

The air became heavy around them and Wanda swore she could feel static coursing down her arms when she met James' gaze. There was something resembling curiosity and uncertainty swimming within the light blue orbs.

James felt oddly drawn to the wide, green eyes of the woman before him. He could see the slight flush appear on her cheeks and he felt his heart racing inside his chest. Without realizing it, he was slowly moving his face closer to hers.

The beeping of the thermometer seemed to echo around the room as the two occupants jumped apart in embarrassment.

"Uh," James cleared his throat as he looked at the small device in his hand. "It's 99.7 right now. Down from earlier, but still kind of high."

Wanda nodded and bit her lip as she avoided his gaze.

"I should get going," he said, standing up.

"Okay. Um, night, then," Wanda managed to say.

"Goodnight, Wanda," James said as walked to the door and punched in a code for it to open.

Wanda let out a breath as she watched him walk away.

"What the hell was that?" she asked herself.

" _And next thing you know he'll offer his dick."_

Wanda jerked backwards as Dream Pietro's words echoed in her mind.

"It's not like that," she whispered to herself.

She laid back onto the bed as she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts.

"It's not like that," she slurred as she drifted to sleep.

X_X_X

"Was she still sleeping? Did she seem okay?" Steve asked as soon as Bucky stepped into the room.

Bucky blinked and remembered why he'd come to Steve's room in the first place.

"Oh, she was up when I went in there. She seemed a bit annoyed that Shuri was keeping her hostage in there, but otherwise, she seemed fine. Her temperature went down a bit and she took painkillers for her headache."

Steve breathed out in relief.

"Did she say anything about what happened this morning?" Steve asked.

"No," Bucky replied. "But I finally saw her take out a nightmare."

Steve waited for Bucky to continue. He knew he wouldn't like what his friend had to say based on the sour look on his face.

"She's drowning in bad dreams so we can have peace while we rest," Bucky admitted.

Steve frowned. "What do you mean?"

Bucky went to Steve's desk and sat on the chair as he thought about how to explain it to Steve.

"The dreams, the negativity of it all, it forms into this black smoke, almost. And instead of letting it go, invade something else or whatever it does, Wanda takes it in for herself," Bucky explained. "Steve, I saw that thing slip into her body. It turned her skin grey and her veins black as it slid up her arm."

Steve stood up from his bed. "Did you do anything to help her?"

"What did you want me to do, Steve? She said it was normal. I don't know how her powers work, I don't know what that black thing does to her. I figured the best thing to do was come tell you and then decide whether it's something we can deal with ourselves or if we should have the princess take a look at Wanda."

Steve took a deep breath.

"Okay. You said she was fine?" he asked.

"She seemed fine when I spoke with her. A bit tired, but then again, she does still have a bit of a fever," Bucky nodded.

"Okay. We'll go in tomorrow morning and see how she feels, how she looks. Then we'll decide," Steve said.

Both men struggled to leave Wanda by herself after what they knew, but they trusted that she would be safe in the lab.

X_X_X

 _Wanda moaned as she felt soft lips nip at her own._

" _Mmm. Good morning, husband," she said with a lazy smile._

" _Good morning, wife," came the reply._

 _Gentle kisses trailed up her cheek, onto each eye, down her nose, before finding their way back to her eager lips._

" _Come on, it's time to get up."_

 _Wanda groaned. A hand brushed against her nipple and she arched at the contact._

" _Hmm. Interesting."_

 _Soon a hot mouth descended on her breast and Wanda gasped out._

 _Her eyes fluttered open when the feeling stopped._

" _Hey, I was enjoying that," she said to the mop of black hair by her chest._

 _Clear blue eyes peered up at her and the mouth that had previously been pleasuring her twitched up into a smirk._

" _I'd gladly continue, my dear, but we have guests coming over in an hour. It really is time to get up," he said._

" _James," Wanda whined._

" _Would you prefer your brother walk in on us like this?" he asked, placing a kiss on her nipple._

" _In bed." A hand traveled down her stomach._

" _Naked." Knuckles ghosted over her throbbing core._

" _Fucking each other's brains out." Two fingers slid inside her drenched sex._

 _Wanda gasped and her eyes rolled to the back of her head._

" _To be quite honest with you, right now, I don't really give a damn," Wanda moaned._

" _Is that so?" James said with a smug voice._

" _James, dear, not to be crass or anything, but if you don't fuck me right now, I'll do it myself," she said with a desperate tone under her words._

" _I love it when you talk dirty to me, Wanda," he said as he leaned down to give her a wet kiss._

 _Wanda closed her eyes and smiled when he pulled back to straddle her._

" _In sickness and in health," he whispered his vows._

" _Till death do us part," she finished._

 _She opened her eyes and screamed._

 _Straddling her was a rotting James with black tendrils wrapping around his neck and his chest. He opened his mouth and grey sludge spilled out of his mouth, splattering all over her._

 _All Wanda could do was close her eyes and scream louder._

X_X_X

Shuri punched in the numbers to open her lab doors and immediately went to make some coffee. With the new project she was working on, she knew she'd need all the caffeine.

As the machine worked its magic, Shuri went over to Wanda's bed. The Avenger twitched in her sleep and Shuri placed her hand on Wanda's forehead.

"You poor thing, you're burning up," she said to the sleeping Wanda. "No wonder you can't sleep."

Walking over to the lab bathroom, Shuri took a towel and wet it with cold water. Bringing it back to the bed, she placed it on Wanda's forehead. The brunette immediately relaxed.

"There, all better. For now at least," Shuri said.

The coffee machine beeped and Shuri went to serve herself a mug of coffee.

"Alright, let's see what we have here," she said as she sat in front of her computer.

Shuri typed in her password and immediately went into the laboratory recordings file. She clicked on the one from that day and sipped her drink while she watched Wanda on the screen.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating yesterday. And today's chapter is going to be shorter than usual. Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Like always, I don't own anything.

X_X_X

 _Wanda sat up in bed with tears streaming down her face. Frantically, she grasped at the space beside her._

" _Ow! What the hell, Wanda?" came a raspy voice beside her._

 _Quickly, Wanda turned on the lamp beside her and looked at the adorably confused James rubbing his chest where she had grasped at._

" _Babe! Oh my god," she cried in relief. "I'm so sorry. I had a nightmare."_

 _James sat up and rubbed his eyes._

 _Wanda was momentarily distracted by her shirtless, bed-headed boyfriend._

" _Do you want to talk about it?" he asked._

" _No, no. It's fine, you're here with me. Alive. That's all that matters," she said, leaning down to kiss him._

" _Mmm. Did I die in your dream?" he asked as his eyes closed._

" _Something like that," she sniffed._

" _Hey, it's like you said, I'm here, I'm alive."_

 _Wanda closed her eyes and sighed in relief._

" _Yeah. It was just a dream,"she said._

" _No, this is a dream," James responded._

" _What?" Wanda asked, opening her eyes to look at him._

" _You're dreaming right now," he said. "In the real world we're not together."_

" _I don't…" Wanda trailed off. "I don't understand."_

 _James opened his eyes only so she could see him roll them._

" _You're not my type, Wanda. You're too awkward and sad and pathetic. You have no sex appeal. So get this little fantasy out of your head before you make things awkward for us out there."_

 _Wanda shook her head. "But in the lab…"_

 _James laughed mockingly at her._

" _What, you call that attraction? That was me sticking a thermometer into your sick mouth and realizing how awkward that was. There's nothing sexy or electrifying about that, Wanda. Trust me," he said._

 _Wanda swallowed back the hurt._

" _I know what I felt, James," she started._

" _Oh, for fucks sake," he said angrily. He got up from the bed and looked at her. "Well? Get up, I need to show you something so you'll understand."_

 _Wanda hesitantly got up and went to stand beside him. He jerked his head towards their bedroom door._

" _Open it. You'll see that this really is a dream and that I'm not into girls like you."_

 _Wanda shook her head as tears stung her eyes._

" _Open in!" he yelled._

" _No!" She cried._

 _James pulled the door open and grasped her arm tightly._

" _Let me go!" she yelled. "You're hurting me!"_

" _Wake the fuck up!" he said as he threw her through the door._

 _Wanda clenched her eyes shut._

X_X_X

"What the hell?" Shuri muttered as she saw the black thing on the screen soak into Wanda's skin.

"No," Wanda muttered in her sleep.

Shuri turned to look at her and saw the towel on the floor. With a sigh, she went to pick it up and wet it again before placing it on Wanda's forehead once more. The girl had her eyes clenched shut and Shuri felt an ache inside her chest.

"Don't worry, we'll figure out how to make you feel better," she said.

Removing a bead from her bracelet, Shuri activated it to scan Wanda from head to toe. Then, she placed it on the glass board where she could see the hologram in a bigger image.

When the image finished loading, Shuri took a step back in dread.

Inside Wanda's chest was a pulsing blackness that inched further out as time passed. Dark veins had already stretched to her legs, arms, and were slowly making their way to her head.

Shuri shook off her concern and nodded to herself.

"Alright, let's do this."

X_X_X

" _Oh, baby, there you are."_

 _Wanda opened her eyes and saw James coming her direction with open arms._

" _Are you okay? I woke up and you weren't there," he said._

 _Wanda sighed in exhaustion. She walked closer to him._

" _Yeah, I'm just…" she trailed off as he walked right past her._

" _James?" she asked, turning around to look at him._

 _His arms were wrapped around a curvy, short-haired brunette from what she could tell. His face was towards Wanda and she could see how relieved he was to have her._

" _I'm sorry, baby, I woke up thirsty and went for a glass of water," said the woman. Her voice was soft as silk and so, so sweet. It was almost childlike._

" _It's alright, let's go to bed," James said, holding on to her hand and leading her to the bed._

 _Wanda saw her face for the first time and saw gorgeous, doe-like green eyes and plump, pink lips spread in a smile. Her skin was flawless and Wanda's own heart melted at the beauty in the woman._

" _Love you, Wendy," James said with all the happiness in the world as he sat down on the bed and pulled her down onto his lap._

 _Wanda's breath stuck in her throat as Wendy looked directly into her eyes._

" _What about Wanda?" she asked._

" _Who?" James asked._

" _Wanda. You know, the orphan girl from when you were working with Steve."_

 _James laughed. "Damn, I'd completely forgotten her! Where's this coming from? You jealous?"_

 _Wendy pouted down at him before smirking up at Wanda._

" _You had something with her, didn't you?" she asked._

" _Baby, you know it meant nothing. I just didn't want to let Steve down, you know. He really wanted his two friends to date, so I agreed to give it a try. She was so boring and depressing. I could barely even stand to be her friend. When we started dating I damn near died," he laughed._

 _Wendy bit her lip as she glanced down at James._

" _So you never loved her?"_

" _Babe," James began. "I never loved her. I could never. Not when I can have you."_

 _James pulled her down and gave her a deep kiss. He pulled down the strap of her tank and took her breast in his hand._

 _Wanda closed her eyes and turned around._

 _Arms wrapped around her._

" _Oh, sweetheart. I know this hurts. Come with me, I'll make sure you never hurt again. I'll protect you like I always did," Pietro's voice soothed her._

 _Wanda looked up and saw her brother just like she remembered him._

 _His blue eyes twinkled with mischief and excitement flushed his cheeks. His blond hair was a chaotic mess of curls._

 _Wanda ran a hand through them. They were as soft as she remembered._

" _I want to go home," she said with overwhelming emotions weighing down her words._

" _Then let's go home," Pietro said as he guided her to the door. "We'll leave the Avengers and Bucky behind. We'll forget what Hydra ever did to us. We don't have to worry about any of that anymore, Wand. It'll just be you, me, mom, and dad."_

 _Wanda paused._

" _Mom and dad will be there?"_

" _Of course," Pietro smiled. "They've been impatiently waiting for you."_

 _Tears of happiness ran down Wanda's face as she placed her hand on the handle. She took a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for seeing her parents again._

 _Then a pause._

" _What are you waiting for?" Pietro asked._

" _I'm scared. What if they don't like who I've become?" Wanda confessed._

" _Wanda, they're our parents. They'll love you no matter what," he said._

 _Pietro's bony hand wrapped around her's. Looking down, Wanda saw the greying skin of her hand finally match her brother's._

 _Together, they turned the handle._


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating for a while, I got hit with the Christmas bug and decided to decorate everything. Anyway, I don't know if I'll be able to update again tonight, and tomorrow I have class until very late, so the next update will probably be on Tuesday.

Like always, I don't own anything.

X_X_X

Shuri sat on Wanda's bed as she processed her findings and tried to figure out how to proceed. First she needed to get a sample of that thing, but how?

Wanda stirred and Shuri glanced at her, startled to see tears on her face. When had she started to crying? She was smiling, though, so perhaps it wasn't all bad.

Suddenly she saw Wanda's veins prod out in a sickening black color along her neck. Casting a quick glance at the screen, Shuri could see the black beginning to climb Wanda's throat in an alarming rate. Even worse, though, was her heart rate dropping.

"Wanda," Shuri called out in a hurry.

"Wanda, wake up!" she said, reaching down to shake her shoulder.

The veins popping out along her face were consistent with the data on the hologram.

"Wanda, dammit, wake up!" Shuri cried out, lifting Wanda up by the shoulders and jerking her around.

"Ow, stop! What the fuck?" Wanda exclaimed as she was rudely awakened.

Shuri sighed in relief as the black subsided and the number on the heart rate monitor started to ascend. In a hurry, she went to her computer and typed in more notes.

"The fuck was that for?" Wanda angrily asked as she got up from the bed to glower at Shuri.

"Something was happening. I don't know what, but I needed you to wake up," she lied.

Wanda sucked in her cheeks.

"Okay, sure. The instant I start to actually enjoy my dream, I'm forced to wake up. That's just great," she muttered to herself.

"I see you're feeling better," Shuri noted.

"I'd feel even more better with a shower," Wanda retorted.

"Sure. Just give me some of your blood and you're free to have the day to yourself," Shuri exclaimed with a grin.

Wanda gave her an incredulous look.

"What? I mean it. I need some of your blood for studies," Shuri explained.

"Is that the only reason you're keeping me here? To finally have me as your guinea pig?" Wanda accused.

Shuri bit back the hurt that Wanda's words caused.

"Of course. You know I've always wanted to know more about your powers," Shuri said.

Wanda bit her lip.

"Alright. But I want the whole day to myself and the door unlocked at night," she bargained.

"Deal!" Shuri smiled.

She activated a bead as Wanda rolled up her sleeve. Angry, red flesh greeted her when she finally looked up. Wanda's skin was a mix between severe burns and a nasty road rash.

"What's this?" Shuri asked with anger tainting her words.

"I needed to be clean," Wanda said with a shrug.

Remembering what she saw on the screen, Shuri took in a deep breath and pressed the bead so a tiny needle came out.

"This might hurt for a second," Shuri warned.

"Eh. I can't feel anything," Wanda said.

After hearing the confirmation to her theories, Shuri pushed the bead against Wanda's finger. When the little bead was full, it beeped at her.

"Alright, you're free to go now," Shuri said as she pressed a button on her computer to unlock the lab doors.

Wanda turned with a huff and walked towards the exit.

"Oh, and Wanda?" Shuri called out.

The young Avenger turned to look at her with an annoyed expression.

"Next time you take a nightmare, I want it."

Wanda looked taken aback by the request as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Uhh… I don't think-" she started but was cut off by the princess shaking her head.

"For research purposes," Shuri explained.

Wanda still didn't look comfortable, but she gave a short nod.

"Alright then. The next one is yours," she said.

As Wanda walked out of the lab, she could feel Shuri's eyes on her with every step she took.

X_X_X

Wanda was showered, dressed, smiling, and cooking breakfast.

 _And_ it wasn't even six in the morning yet.

In her hurry to escape the lab, she hadn't even realized that it was too early in the morning for her to be out of bed. However, for some reason she felt refreshed.

"Steve? You're up early today," James muttered as he walked into the kitchen.

Wanda watched in amusement as he sat on one of the many counter stools around the kitchen island. He rubbed his eyes and finally looked at her.

"You're not Steve," he noted.

"Wow. I'm impressed with your observation skills, Sergeant Barnes,' she teased.

"Oh, quit your teasing. I'm tired," he said. "Why are you so chipper this morning, anyway? Why are you even _here_."

Wanda's dream flashed through her mind as she remembered the cruel words Dream James had said about not wanting her.

Shaking her head, she grinned.

"I made a deal with Shuri. In exchange for my blood, she set me free."

James blinked at her.

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too," Wanda laughed.

"Wait, are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah," Wanda said. "Apparently she's studying me or something. I don't know, nor do I really care if it means I can leave the lab."

James nodded with pursed lips. "Fair trade, I think."

"Bucky? Are you cooking?"

The pair turned to the kitchen entrance in time to see Steve walk in looking like he hadn't just gotten up fifteen minutes ago.

"Nope. But Wanda is," James said.

"Wanda. Huh," was all Steve said.

"You two are exceptionally brilliant today," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"It's because of you. You're throwing us off, babe," Steve said with a smirk.

He moved to pour himself and Bucky a cup of coffee.

"Why are you up so early?" Steve asked.

"Shuri woke me up," Wanda said.

"Why?" he asked.

Wanda only shrugged and moved to get plates so she could serve the food.

Steve's phone rang and he left the room answered it.

Wanda placed the three served plates on the table as she glanced at James. His answering shrug only fueled her curiosity even more. Steve walked in to see his two friends pretending to be interested in their breakfast.

"That was Nat, in case you wanted to know," Steve said.

"What?" Wanda asked in a high pitched voice. "Who said we wanted to know?"

"Yeah, we didn't even say anything," Bucky added.

Steve rolled his eyes but smiled anyway as he sat down to eat.

"She's coming here."

Both James and Wanda choked on their food a bit.

"Seriously?" Wanda asked in excitement.

"Really?"James asked in a less pleased voice.

"Yeah, apparently T'Challa finally found her in Scotland and offered her refuge in apology for turning her in to Ross," Steve explained.

Wanda grinned and felt warmth spread within her chest.

"I'm glad," she said. "Despite everything, I've missed her."

As they finished their meal, Wanda couldn't help but notice James' unease grow as the minutes passed.

X_X_X

"Your highness," Steve greeted as he entered the lab.

It was seven in the morning and he wanted to get a chance to talk with the princess before she headed to bed for the day.

"Hey, Cap, what's up?" she replied from her computer.

"I see you let Wanda out," he said.

"Well, I got most of what I needed," Shuri said.

"And?"

Shuri sighed and turned to face Steve.

"It doesn't look good. There's something dark inside her but I don't know what it is. It's growing, though. It has nearly 95% of her body in its clutches."

Steve pursed his lips.

"Bucky said he saw her skin turn grey when she touched a nightmare, and that her veins popped out in a black color," he said.

Shuri nodded and turned to pull up a picture on her computer. Steve looked closer and saw what Bucky had described.

"I saw that in the camera last night, too. Then I saw it again this morning, but the more it grew the weaker her heart got. I don't know if that's what the nightmare is doing or if it's something else, but I'm-"

Shuri cut herself off as she took a staggering breath.

"I'm afraid it'll kill her," Shuri admitted.

Steve shook his head.

"She won't die. She can't die," he said. "What can we do?"

Shuri pulled up a chart on her screen.

"I had tests run on her blood sample and found some new microorganisms in her body," Shuri said.

"New as in, wasn't there before, or…?" Steve trailed off.

"New, as in, never seen before. I compared it to all known organisms and it didn't match anything. I've tried separating them from her blood cells but they tend to die on their own, leading me to think it's like a virus. Anyway, then I placed it in fresh animal blood."

At this Steve grimaced.

"I know, bad, but I needed blood with still-living cells. And the organisms latched on like a leech. They killed off the host cell and died right afterwards, but I don't know if it's just because the host cell isn't compatible or if that's the nature of this thing," Shuri finished in a rush.

"You said it's like a virus, right? Would it infect the rest of us?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Shuri confessed. "I've been checking my own blood but nothing has come up, and I've been in direct contact with the organisms. Also, you and Bucky have spent a lot of time with her but I don't see anything within your scans, but maybe it won't show up if it hasn't spread yet."

Steve held out an arm. "Take a sample. See if I have it."

Shuri quickly got to work and took a sample of his blood.

"I'll leave it in the machine for it to break down the components while I sleep. I'll also set it to go off if it detects the new microorganism," Shuri said as she moved around the machines in her workspace.

"Should we tell her? I don't want to scare her but I feel like this is something she needs to know," Steve said.

"Don't worry, I'll tell her in a way that won't scare her," Shuri said with a grin.

X_X_X

Wanda watched from the palace steps as James paced around the garden. He was a good distance away but she could still feel his distress.

 _Something's bothering you,_ Wanda thought out to him.

He froze as he did a quick scan around him. When his eyes laid on her, she waved. She saw him visibly relax a bit before making his way over to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she repeated with a smile.

"How did you do that?" James asked, moving to sit down beside her.

Wanda shrugged. "I'm not sure of the exact science behind it, but it's something I used to do a lot with Pietro when we were on the Hydra base."

James nodded and gazed off into the garden before them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.

"It's nothing," he said. "I'm just being stupid."

"Hey," Wanda said, laying a hand on his knee. "If it's bothering you then it's not stupid. I won't force you to talk, but I just want you to know that it's okay to feel what you feel."

Wanda removed her hand from his knee and placed it on her lap as she looked up at the sky. She could almost see Pietro gagging at her words.

She smiled.

"I tried to kill her multiple times," James said. "Then she fought against us… And then she let us go. Now she's coming here and I don't know how I'm supposed to behave around her. Will she see me as a friend or the man who stabbed through her to kill a man? "

Wanda assumed the "she" he was talking about was Natasha. Seeing the rarely anxious man looking, well, anxious, Wanda jerked back in surprise. She felt as if she was looking at James through a different lense. One that captured the entire picture.

"You really care about what she thinks, don't you?"

James groaned. "See? I told you I was just being stupid."

"No! No, James, that's not what I meant," Wanda exclaimed. "It's just, I understand, but I don't know how to put it into words."

She took in a deep breath.

"I think the first thing is to not stress about having tried to kill her. Most of us have been there, trust me," she said with a humorless laugh.

"I doubt that," James replied.

"I'm serious! I mean, maybe it's not the _exact_ same thing, but yeah. I hurt her _really bad_ by dragging up all of her traumatic memories, to the point that it left her pretty much useless in a fight. Clint got into a physical fight with her a few years back. Although, I'm not sure if he was trying to kill her or recruit her, but it wasn't a pretty fight from what he could remember.

"Then Bruce went all Hulk on her, and if it wasn't for Thor, I'm pretty sure that would've been the end of her. I mean, don't get me wrong, Nat's super strong and intelligent enough to get herself out of any sticky situation, but anyone against the Hulk stands pretty much no chance," Wanda rambled.

"And she's had to fight us back, but she's totally chill with everyone right now," Wanda mentally cringed at her choice of words.

" _Anyway_ ," she shook her head. "That doesn't really matter. What I'm trying to get to is that there's some weird stuff within our group regarding her."

James shook his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ ," Wanda dragged out. She shook her head in mental preparation. "I mean that she kinda… Had? Maybe still has, a thing for Bruce. I mean, the guy disappeared on her, leaving her without closure, so I don't think she really got the chance to get over him. To be honest, I'm too intimidated by her to even ask about her feelings on that.

"And," Wanda closed her eyes in shame. "I think Steve might like her."

Silence stretched out between them and Wanda opened one eye to look at him.

He appeared… confused?

"What?" he finally asked.

"I know!" Wanda exclaimed. "I'm sorry for telling you but you had to know before she got here! I mean, you're great and all but I've known Steve much longer and I don't think it'd be right for him to have to go against his best friend for a girl, because knowing him, he'd stand down and that's just not fair. He already feels weird about Nat and Bruce, he doesn't need you chasing after her, too."

Wanda felt red in the face and her hands shook, but she was relieved she'd taken a stand for her blond friend.

"Wait," James started.

Wanda took a deep breath as she prepared herself to fight for even the slightest chance of Romanogers.

"You think I like her?"

Wanda's mind went blank. That wasn't what she was expecting him to say.

"Well, you care so much about what she thinks of you," she offered as an explanation.

"Only because I know how much Steve admires her. I don't want her to hate me and strain my friendship with him."

"Oh my god," Wanda whispered in relief.

Steve still had his chance.

James broke out in laughter that sent tingles down Wanda's spine.

"You actually thought I liked her," he teased.

"Alright," she said. "I admit that wasn't my best moment, but it isn't that funny. Please let us forget it ever happened."

He chuckled. "No offence, but she isn't really my type."

Wanda froze as her dream from last night came to mind again.

"What?" she exclaimed overdramatically to distract herself from her thoughts. "What do you mean, she isn't your type? Have you seen her? Like, _really_ seen her? She's everybody's type!"

James laughed again.

"I don't know, I guess I have a thing for brunettes," he said with a crooked smile.

Wanda's heart beat harder inside her chest.

Ignoring her reaction, she raised her eyebrow at him. "Steve told me about Dot. He said you were crazy about redheads."

All he did was shrug. "That was then."

Wanda found it difficult to breathe as he kept his eyes focused on her.

"Now, I go for the ones who aren't afraid to fight for what they believe in, whether its with words or fists, or maybe even superpowers," he said with a wink. "They're ridiculously selfless, to the point where they'd rather suffer themselves than let others feel pain."

Wanda swallowed.

"It sounds like you're describing Steve," she said with a slight tremble in her voice.

He smirked and reached over to grab her hand. Wanda watched as he intertwined their fingers together.

"Like I said, I prefer brunettes. Especially if they have beautiful green eyes and a stunning smile."

Wendy came to mind and Wanda shook her head but the dream was replaying in her mind despite her efforts to stop it. She withdrew her hand.

"James, please don't," Wanda said through her inner turmoil.

He gave her a questioning look with some hurt lurking within his blue eyes.

"Don't, what? Tell you how I feel? You literally just said it was okay to feel what I feel. I just want to be honest with you, Wanda," he said defensively.

"No, James. You're just doing this because it's what Steve wants. So, please don't. I'm not going to fall for your games," she said, getting up.

James stood up as well and reached out to make her face him.

"What are you talking about? I'm not playing anything. I haven't even been paying attention to anything Steve wants because I've been too busy thinking about you all the damn time!" he exclaimed with a slight rasp to his voice.

Wanda shook her head. "I'm not your type, trust me."

"I literally just described you, Wanda. What more do you want?" he asked in frustration.

"Just… Just let me go, okay? You're only settling for me because you haven't found Wendy yet!" Wanda cried out, pulling out of his grasp.

"Who the hell is Wendy?" James asked.

Wanda ignored him and ran towards the castle, using her powers to lift herself onto the roof.

As her feet touched the asphalt, she crumbled to the floor and let her tears fall.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update. I feel like my writing time is always interrupted with things like chores, school, and my cat sleeping on my laptop. I'll update again tomorrow, but I don't know if I'll be able to post anything again until the weekend.

Anyway, I don't own anything relating to these characters or any references that may or not be made in this chapter.

Enjoy!

X_X_X

Wanda opened her eyes as she felt someone creeping up on her. She quickly took in her surroundings from the roof floor where she lay, but didn't see anyone. Then again, it could be because her hair was in her face.

 _Please don't be Barnes, please don't be Barnes,_ she chanted in her head.

The door cracked open and she saw skinny jeans and chucks. Wanda rolled her eyes because _of course_ it would be the other person she didn't want to see.

"Wanda I know you're awake, I can feel you rolling your eyes," Shuri said.

Wanda huffed at the hair in her face and sat up.

"No you can't," she said.

Shuri smiled. "Nope, I can't. But I could see it through your hair."

The young royal moved to sit beside her and Wanda hugged her knees to herself.

"Why are you here?" Wanda asked.

"I was tasked with delivering some news," Shuri said as she reached into her hoodie to pull out a folded piece of paper. "Here."

Wanda opened it to see a crude drawing of herself (glowing hands included), colored red up to her throat. Near the bottom of the page, there were two little squares. The empty box said, "good," while the one colored in red said, "bad."

"Is this…?" Wanda trailed off with a bemused smile.

"Oh, yeah," Shuri grinned. "This is your badness level. It's unusually high for someone your size."

Wanda laughed under her breath. "Thank you, Shuri. I needed that."

Shuri's smile became strained. "Oh, that's not… I didn't make it for you to feel better. It really is your badness level chart. Except badness here is the same as sickness."

Wanda opened her mouth and closed it again.

"Sick? But I feel better," she said.

"It's not like a fever or anything like that," Shuri explained. "It's something new, which is why I'm doing a lot of studies on you, a lot that you don't even know of."

Wanda didn't know how to feel about that but nodded anyway.

"So this chart… It's bad, isn't it?" Wanda asked.

"Right now? Yes, very bad. But we can work to bring it down and turn the red into blue," Shuri said with a wide smile.

Wanda took a deep breath. "Okay. I trust you, Shuri. Whatever you need, I'll help. And I'm sorry about what I said in the lab."

Shuri waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I'll be back in the lab later tonight, around the time you go to sleep. If you could please have a nightmare for me ready, that'd be helpful," the princess said.

"Nightmare? What does that have to do with anything?" Wanda asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I'm still collecting data," Shuri shrugged.

"Alright," Wanda said with a nod.

"So, are we going to talk about why _you_ were on the roof?" Shuri asked.

"I was tired."

"More like crying, cause your eyes are hella red and puffy," Shuri observed. "You look like crap."

Wanda couldn't argue with that because she felt like crap, too.

"Did you have a bad dream while napping?" Shuri asked.

"Strangely enough, no. I didn't dream of anything, now that I think about it. But I don't think I was sleeping for long, the sun's position hasn't changed much," Wanda said as she glanced up at the sky. "And you're still up."

"You know, the White Wolf seemed irritated when I asked him if he knew where I could find you," Shuri said. "Would he have anything to do with your awfully blotchy face?"

Wanda turned to glare at Shuri. In response, she raised an eyebrow.

Releasing a sigh, Wanda closed her eyes.

"He said he liked me."

"Huh," Shuri muttered. "If he confessed to me I'd cry, too. But they'd be tears of happiness. Why aren't yours?"

"You don't understand," Wanda shook her head. "He doesn't actually like me. He's just doing it because he feels like he has to, because of Steve, or because of me, or something. But I'm not his type, Shuri, and I refuse to be used as a filler until his perfect girl comes along."

Shuri nodded with a too-wide smile. "You're an idiot."

Wanda opened her eyes and turned to give Shuri a 'WTF' glare.

"You know what? If you can't see how much that man adores you, then you don't deserve him. And it's _wonderful_ that you turned him away because goodness knows you'd destroy him with all of your self doubt."

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows as Shuri's words hit something deep inside her.

It didn't feel good.

"Whose side are you on?" Wanda asked, confused by the sudden change in tone.

"I'm on yours, obviously. But you need to get your shit together or else we're never going to win him over," she said.

"We?" Wanda said with a side glance at Shuri.

"What? I'm investing a lot of money and time trying to keep you alive to see this romance story to the end. So, yes, _we._ "

Wanda smiled and felt something stir within her chest. She wrapped both her arms around Shuri.

"You make me feel like there are tiny fish swimming in my heart," she said.

Shuri laughed. "I'm pretty sure that's an actual parasite eating at your heart, but I'll take the compliment anyway."

The pair continued to talk and laugh as they walked back into the palace.

X_X_X

"You seem moody," Steve said.

Bucky looked over to his door frame and Steve gave him an exaggerated pout.

"Fuck off," he said.

"Damn, it's worse than I thought. What's up?" Steve asked, walking over to the bed to sit. He watched as Bucky glared at the desk.

"I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled, leaning back into the desk chair.

"Well that's too bad, I guess I'll just have to stay here until you're ready to talk," Steve said, laying back and making himself comfortable on Bucky's bed.

Bucky sighed in frustration.

"Fine. Wanda accused me of playing with her feelings when I told her I liked her," he said in a groan.

A grin slowly grew on Steve's face.

"Steve, focus," Bucky said.

"Alright, alright. So, the one you like doesn't believe you when you confess. What are you going to do about that?"Steve asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to let her go, but I also don't want to force myself on her, you know?" Bucky said.

"Right," Steve said. "But it also sounds like she likes you, she just isn't sure about whether your feelings are real."

Bucky rubbed his chin. "She did mention she thought I was doing this because you wanted me to. And that I was settling for her because I haven't found Wendy."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, yeah, I want you to, but not if I don't believe your feelings are true. And who's Wendy?"

Bucky shrugged.

"Well, your best bet is to convince her your intentions are good," Steve said. "With that done, hopefully it'll make her forget about this Wendy chick."

Bucky nodded. "I was planning on doing that. I just needed to clear my head before attempting to face her again."

"I talked to Shuri," Steve said with a grimace. He didn't want to talk about this when his friend was already in a bad mood, but he knew the sooner he told Bucky, the better.

"What did she say?" Bucky asked.

Steve sighed before explaining everything Shuri had told him. From Wanda's decreasing heart rate to the new organisms in her body. He felt guilt weighing him down as Bucky's face cleared of any emotions.

"I'm sorry, Buck. I know this is hard to hear, but you need to know. We have to keep her from sleeping, in case it happens again."

Bucky stood up from his chair in anger.

"So we keep her awake all day? What about tonight? Tomorrow? Or the following day? She's got to rest, too, you know! We can't keep her up for the rest of her life," he exclaimed.

"I know that," Steve groaned, rubbing his temples. "We just have to keep her up long enough for Shuri to see what's going on with her and how to fix it."

Getting up off the bed, Steve made his way over to his friend and pat his shoulder.

"We'll figure this out, Buck. And I know Wanda, she won't give up without a fight," Steve said with a tight smile.

X_X_X

"I'm giving up," Wanda said as she found herself once more on the palace roof.

After dropping off the princess at her room and going to the kitchen for a snack, there wasn't much else for Wanda to do indoors.

The wind blew across her face and she closed her eyes.

"I know, you'd kill me if I died," she smiled. "I'm just really tired though."

Wanda could almost see her brother's eye roll.

"Oh, what do you know? You're in eternal rest, now. You no longer have to worry about sleeping."

Wanda sat down and listened to the life around her. It was much different being here during the day.

"He confessed, you know," Wanda said, opening her eyes. "And I wanted to be happy. Had it been yesterday, I would've been blushing and smiling like crazy, but… It wasn't. Now I've got that damn dream in my mind and I don't know what to believe in. I don't know what I want.

"Should I give in to him, even though there's a possibility he doesn't actually like me? Or do I protect myself?"

Wanda huffed up at the sky.

"This all would've been so much easier if you had let me date when I was younger. Then I'd have an idea of how all of this works."

" _If I had let you date, then you'd have used them all for sex by now,"_ Pietro's voice whispered by her ear.

Spinning around, Wanda saw the image of her brother.

"Wha- Pietro? What's going on?" she muttered under her breath.

Shaking her head, Wanda closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, he was still there.

"Is this a dream?" she asked.

" _No dream, dear sister. Just reality,"_ he answered.

Wanda reached out to touch him and although her hand went through, she could've sworn she felt warmth at her fingertips where she'd brushed his cheek.

"Pietro. Oh my god," she choked as tears formed in her eyes.

" _No more crying, Wand. I didn't come all the way here to see you a blubbering mess,"_ he said with a mock glare.

Wanda didn't know what to make of it, so she just nodded and wiped away her tears.

"Why did you come, then?" she asked.

" _Do I really need a reason to see my baby sister?"_ he asked.

"I'm going insane," she said. "Is that why you're here?"

Pietro grinned.

"Great," she mumbled in mock annoyance. "Even in death you'll still come to bother me."

" _I'm not dead,"_ he said.

"Right," Wanda rolled her eyes. "So the greying skin is a clay mask gone wrong?"

He looked down at his decomposing hands and when he looked up at her again, his eyes were black instead of the blue they'd been a few seconds ago.

" _I need you to help me, Wanda. I don't want to die,"_ he choked out.

Wanda felt a chill go down her spine.

"You're already dead, Pietro. There's nothing I can do about that," she explained around a lump in her throat.

" _No, that's different. True death is when we're forgotten by the living. You're forgetting me, Wanda. You've made so many new friends, found someone else to love, and you're forgetting me. You're killing me,"_ Pietro said.

Wanda's heart ached and her head felt like it was being squeezed.

"I'll never forget you, Pietro. How could you even think that? You're still my other half no matter what."

His image began to fade and in the moment before he disappeared, his body crumbled to the floor in ashes.

Wanda reached out to where his body stood but she couldn't feel anything.

At that moment the door to the roof opened and Steve walked out. He paused as he stared at her and her outstretched hand.

He raised his eyebrow and she quickly brought her arm down. She moved to sit by the roof's edge and had one foot touching the ground while the other one dangled from the palace.

"Hey," he smirked, walking closer.

"Uh… You didn't hear anything, did you?" she asked as dread filled her.

"Oh, yeah. I'm beginning to wonder if we should've taken you to a mental institution instead for talking to your brother," he teased as he came over and sat beside her.

"It's really not that abnormal," she pouted. "And I was bored. He would always come up with the funniest responses to things."

"Well, instead of talking to imaginary Pietro, now you've got me," he said.

Masking her unease, Wanda rolled her eyes and sarcastically bit out, "My hero."

Steve shook his head in mock confusion. "I honestly don't know how you have any friends, you're so mean."

"Oh, I don't have any friends," Wanda grinned widely.

Steve did a double take at her words and his facial expression switched into one of real concern.

"Wanda…" he trailed off.

"I'm messing with you, Steve," Wanda said when she felt a lecture coming.

He gave her an exaggerated sigh but didn't say anything.

Wanda's mind took the time to worry about what she saw right before Steve came onto the roof. Was Pietro really there or was her mind playing tricks on her? That mental institution was beginning to sound like a good idea.

"Wanda… Did you and Vision ever…?" Steve asked randomly, breaking the silence.

Wanda looked up at him in bewilderment.

"Have sex?" she asked.

She watched in amusement as he shifted and a flush began crawling up his neck.

"No. We never dated, either," she said with a smirk.

"I don't know where that question even came from, but I'm a virgin. Alright?" she replied without much thought to her words.

"Uh…" came a reply from behind her and Wanda stiffened at the familiar voice. A strangled sound came from her throat.

"Well, would you look at the time," Steve said, looking at his watch for less than a second. "I've got some righteousness to spread right about now. Nice chat!"

He stood up in a flash and jumped off the roof. Wanda turned to glare after him as he ran into the surrounding forest.

"Asshole!" Wanda yelled after him. She swore she could hear his laughter echo around her.

She barely even noticed James beside her until he growled.

"Idiot! Doesn't he think before he acts? I swear, I'll die prematurely at this rate."

Wanda turned to judge him.

"What?" he asked defensively.

"You're literally over a hundred years old," she accused.

"Physically, I'm thirty," he said as if that explained everything. Wanda shrugged because she didn't really care.

"Well, if you could just forget what you heard, that'd be great! Then we could continue on with life as if nothing happened. Yeah? Okay, good talk," Wanda rambled as she stood up.

"Wait, Wanda," James said as he laid his metal hand gently on her shoulder. "We need to talk."

Behind him, Wanda could see Pietro's image taking shape again. He sunk into the palace.

"Not now, James," Wanda pleaded, glancing up at James.

James could tell that she was distracted, so he let her go and nodded.

"Can I see you tonight? Around six?" he asked.

Wanda nodded and gave him a smile before using her powers to jump off the roof.

"Idiots," James muttered as he turned to take the stairs back down into the palace.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone! Here's a short, but kinda sweet chapter. I would've written more but I didn't want to leave you guys on a cliff hanger.

Like always, I don't own anything.

Enjoy!

X_X_X

Wanda ran into her room and froze when she saw Pietro sitting on her bed. Or, at least the image of him was sitting on her bed.

"You're not real," she said, closing the door behind her.

He reached over and knocked a pencil off her desk. Wanda's breath caught in her throat as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

" _When are you going to start believing that I'm actually here?"_ he asked.

"Clint saw you die. I saw your body covered in bullet wounds. We buried you, Piet. How do you expect me to believe you're actually here?"

" _You're limited by your mind."_

Wanda took a deep breath and held it for five seconds. When she exhaled, she glared at Pietro.

"Maybe so, but then, so are you. You're just my mind showing me what I want to see," she laughed.

His image rippled and his eyes turned black. As he came closer, she could feel the air around her become harder to breath.

" _Is this what you want to see?"_ he asked as his face began falling off, revealing the flesh underneath. His skin started to rot and the stench of death filled her nose.

"Stop," Wanda gulped.

She could hear the bits of flesh falling to the floor in a sickening squelchy sound. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

" _You can't get rid of me that easily,"_ Pietro laughed.

"Go away!" Wanda yelled, instinctively reaching out to hit the figure in front of her.

A hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her assault. Wanda's eyes opened in fear.

"But I just got here," A blonde-haired Natasha said with an odd smirk.

Wanda looked around her and saw her room back to how it normally was. Even the smell in her nose was beginning to fade.

"I-" Wanda stuttered.

"I'll forgive your attack if you help me unpack. My room is right across from yours," Nat said, letting go of Wanda's hand.

Wanda furrowed her eyebrows and looked around her room once more.

"Is there somebody here?" Nat asked, reaching into her sweater and pulling out a gun.

"Uh, no. I just… I forgot what it was that I came in here for. Oops," Wanda giggled, tapping her head with her palm.

Nat didn't seem to buy it, but put the gun away anyway.

"So… You're blonde now?" Wanda asked as the pair walked into the room across from Wanda's.

Natasha wrinkled her nose.

"The red was drawing too much attention to me. I had to bleach it."

Wanda cringed. Natasha loved her hair.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Nat shrugged. "It's hair, it'll grow back eventually."

"How much do we have to unpack?" Wanda asked, not sure if she was up for doing much after what happened in the room.

"Actually, now that I think about it, why don't you unpack for me? Your attack back there could have really hurt me," Natasha said solemnly.

Wanda raised her eyebrow at her because there's no way _Wanda_ would ever be able to hurt the _Black Widow._

Nat smirked at the younger girl and opened the room to her bedroom. Wanda peaked in and saw a lone duffle bag on the bed.

"That's it?" she exclaimed.

Natasha laughed.

"Now I remember why you and Steve get along so well," Wanda muttered under her breath and began unpacking as Nat sat on the bed. They chatted away like long time friends, although, neither of them would ever admit to it should anyone ask.

X_X_X

At exactly six, Wanda heard a knock on her door. She got up from her bed and straightened out her summer dress (which she did not wear just for this meeting, she actually wanted to try it on and got too lazy to take it off again...).

Walking over to the door, she opened it to see James on the other side with two cups of coffee and a bag of pastries.

Wanda couldn't help the smile that formed on her face.

"I brought coffee and croissants," he said.

"I can see that," Wanda replied.

She stepped to the side and he walked in, moving to sit on her bed.

 _I really need to get a couch in here. Everyone always sits on my bed,_ Wanda thought to herself.

"So you wanted to talk?" she asked, sitting at her desk chair and accepting the coffee from James.

"Yeah, about earlier," he said.

Wanda felt her nerves vibrate under her skin but she took a gulp of coffee and tried to ignore her anxiety.

"Where's Steve?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"He's moping around in his room because Natasha's sleeping right now so he can't talk with her. Anyway, don't change the subject," he said, easily reading her intentions.

Wanda met his eyes with confidence she most definitely didn't feel. "Alright. What about earlier did you want to talk about?"

"Who's Wendy?" he asked, getting straight to the thing that was bothering him.

"Does it matter?" Wanda deflected.

"It does if you think I'm going to leave you for her," James answered.

Wanda felt her heart clench. "We're not even together, James."

"Because the moment I tried to approach the subject you said I'd leave you for her. So who is she? Do I know her?"

Wanda didn't know how to explain that Wendy was a person from her dream. How could she tell him that she was letting herself be held back by her nightmares?

James could see the distress on her face and reached over to grasp her hand. Wanda looked up into his blue eyes, glistening with concern.

With a sigh, she opened her mouth.

"She's someone I know," Wanda half-lied. "She likes you and you'll like her as soon as you two meet."

James looked at her and she looked away in guilt.

"Okay, then. Introduce her to me," he said.

"What?" Wanda exclaimed, looking back at him in something similar to horror.

She felt the tug on her arm as he shrugged.

"If you think I'll like her, then introduce us so I can prove you wrong."

Wanda's mouth was left open as the response she had died on her tongue.

James pulled both her hands into his.

"I like _you_ , Wanda. Not Wendy, not Natasha. Not Steve, even though he's apparently my type" he said with a smirk.

Wanda rolled her eyes, but a smile still graced her lips.

"What can I do to make you believe me?" he asked.

"I-" Wanda looked down. "I don't think there's anything you can do."

James moved to kneel in front of her and released her hands to cradle her face. Wanda felt something blocking her airways as she lost herself in his eyes.

"What's wrong? Please talk to me, Wanda. I want to be with you, but I won't do anything if you don't feel the same way."

Wanda swallowed and reached up to wrap her fingers around his wrists.

"I do feel the same," she confessed, closing her eyes.

She felt his forehead rest against hers. She could taste his scent on her tongue as she took in a deep breath.

"I'm scared," she said, opening her eyes and looking into his.

"Of what?" he asked.

Wanda could hear the soft chuckle behind her. She shook her head and tried to ignore it.

"I'm scared that this is just a dream," Wanda confessed. "And that when I wake up nothing will be real."

James rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks as he wiped away tears that she hadn't noticed she'd begun to shed.

"Wanda…" he began, but Wanda shook her head and cut him off.

"I don't know what's real anymore, James. My hopes and dreams bleed into nightmares and nightmares cross into real life. I think I'm losing my grip on reality."

Wanda rubbed her nose against his.

"Let me help you," James pleaded.

"No. They're my demons, I have to face them alone."

James chuckled and Wanda pulled back slightly, indignant.

"You stubborn woman," he smiled at her. "You don't _have_ to face them alone. I want to be there for you."

Wanda felt warmth spread in her chest as the presence behind her faded.

"Till the end of the line?" she teased.

James leaned back and laughed. "Steve won't like me using that with anybody else, but until we can find another line, then yes."

Wanda leaned over to kiss his nose.

"Alright," she said, trying to ignore the heat spreading across her face.

"Alright," he repeated with a slow grin.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey everyone! Here's chapter 11. I feel like everyone is a bit OOC in this chapter but eh, aren't most fanfics like that?

Anyway, I don't own anything.

Enjoy!

X_X_X

"James Buchanan Barnes," Steve said sternly. "Do you know what time it is?"

Bucky rolled his eyes as he turned around to face his friend.

"It's only nine, Steve. And what are you even doing here? Have you been standing there since six?"

"Yes, and I heard everything."

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I only got here two seconds ago. Shuri is going to be in the lab any minute now and she'll need Wanda," Steve confessed.

"Right. She'll be out in a bit, she's changing," Bucky said.

Steve gaped at him.

"Oh, relax, would ya? We only talked over coffee. Then she kicked me out so she could get dressed," Bucky explained.

"So everything got cleared up?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Bucky replied with a soft smile.

"Looks like things are more than good," came a teasing voice from behind them.

Turning around, they saw Natasha walk out of her bedroom in yoga pants and a tank top. Bucky took joy in watching Steve's ears turn pink.

"Nat, you're up," was his brilliant reply.

"It sounded like a gathering out here so I thought I'd join. Where's the party?" she smirked.

"In Shuri's lab," Wanda replied, closing the door behind her.

Everyone except Steve smirked at her Captain America themed pyjamas.

"A slumber party isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I'll take it," Natasha replied, walking beside Wanda as they went down to the lab.

Bucky and Steve followed, silently teasing each other with signals and pointed looks.

When they got near the lab they could already hear Shuri moving around inside. Wanda formed a red ball of energy in her hand and sent it out in all directions.

Steve watched, amazed, as she called it back a couple of seconds later, dragging with it a black mass of something. She looked at it with fondness before walking into the lab.

"I'm here!" Wanda called out.

"Yeah, I know," came Shuri's reply from around the corner. "And it looks like you brought half the Avengers with you."

"Well, you know," Wanda started. "They can't exactly allow a rogue enhanced roaming around by herself."

James scoffed while Steve coughed. Natasha hummed in subtle agreement.

"Anything new?" Shuri turned to ask once they all entered her personal lab space.

James looked at Wanda and she shook her head.

"I brought something for you," Wanda said, showing Shuri the swirling nightmare in her hand.

"Oh, it's beautiful. Here, put it in this beaker," Shuri said, pointing to the glassware on the table.

"What's all of this about?" Natasha asked, looking around the lab. There were vital signs and measurements that she found somewhat familiar.

"We're studying Wanda's powers," Shuri said, looking for something to tear the nightmare in half.

"How?" Nat asked.

"Mostly by observation," Steve supplied.

Wanda shifted at being talked about like she wasn't there. Noticing her discomfort, James walked over and held her hand in his.

"Good," Natasha said. "It shouldn't be allowed to keep turning on her like that."

Four pairs of eyes turned to gaze at her.

"What do you mean?" Wanda asked.

"We haven't seen anything like that, yet," Steve added.

Natasha looked around with raised eyebrows.

"You say you've been observing her but haven't noticed?"

"It's not like we can keep an eye on her twenty-four, seven," Shuri bit in annoyance.

"What do you mean, Nat?" Wanda asked once more, gripping James' hand tighter.

"In your room earlier today, you were talking with someone. _I_ couldn't see anyone, but you clearly could."

Wanda blanched as she realized Natasha had heard everything.

"But what caught my attention was your power forming a bubble around you and continuously shrinking. The edges were tinted black, though, and it spread as your powers shrunk. I didn't know what to make of it, but now I know it looked a lot like that thing," Nat said, pointing to the nightmare in the beaker. "I don't know what it was, but your reaction looked a lot like how I felt when you used your mind powers on me."

"Is that possible?" Steve asked, turning to Shuri.

She shrugged. "It could be, but I know so little about Wanda and her powers. Even if it was, there would still be the problem of trying to fix it."

"Isn't it obvious?" James spoke up. "She needs to train her powers. Gain control over them so it won't consume her."

"But I already use them daily," Wanda said.

"Perhaps you need to do more than that simple levitation," James said.

"When was the last time you went into someone's mind?" Steve asked.

Wanda shook her head.

"No, I can't. You know I can't."

"Wanda, if your magic is attacking you because you don't know how to control it, then practicing makes sense. That means doing things you don't want to," Natasha said.

"The last time I used them to go into somebody's mind, it was to wreak yours," Wanda said with a trembling breath. "If I can't control it, why should I use it to invade someone's mind like that? It would be dangerous!"

"Wanda, please, it's you we're talking about," James scoffed.

Wanda withdrew her hand and glared at him.

"You don't know what I can do with this! You weren't there, James."

"She's right," Steve said. "She's most dangerous when she's manipulating minds. You wouldn't even know if she was doing it."

The room grew silent. Wanda felt like she'd been punched in the stomach as she realized something… They never had her practicing more than levitation because they were afraid of what she'd do. Somewhere, deep down, they still didn't trust her.

Wanda glanced at James, who was too busy glaring at Steve. Looking over at her so called friend, she saw guilt in his eyes. However, his chin rose an inch and his back straightened as soon as he caught her looking at him.

"Alright, I'm gonna interrupt whatever the hell is going on here and say that this isn't the time nor place," Shuri said.

Wanda opened her mouth but was cut off by a hand on her shoulder. She didn't need to look to know it was her brother.

Apparently though, everyone else could see something was going on with her. Even if they couldn't actually _see_ what was happening.

"Wanda, calm down and lets talk this through," Nat said as she walked closer. Wanda didn't miss the way her hand hovered over the hidden gun inside her sweater.

"I am calm," she said. But even she could tell something was wrong because her voice sounded cold and despite her words, she could feel her heart beating erratically in her chest.

James took a step towards her and for a moment all she could see was him.

" _Don't be fooled, none of them trust you,"_ a voice whispered in her ear and all emotions slipped from her.

With speed to make her brother proud, Wanda formed a bubble around herself and fled from the lab. She could hear her name being called but it was drowned out by the gunshot that chased after her.

Wanda finally crashed into the ground a few minutes later and found herself alone in an open field.

" _You were never good enough for them,"_ she heard Pietro say.

Anger sparked in her chest, spreading through her veins with every pump of her heart.

" _Why do you stay here? You're living your life to half its potential, held back by those who claim to be your friends."_

Wanda gasped for air as rage suffocated her.

"They were never on my side," she muttered.

" _They only let you join so they could keep you on a leash."_

"I'm not an animal to be tamed," she growled.

 _Show them you're more powerful than any of them. Show them you_ are _in control._

Wanda shuddered as the voice echoed inside her head.

"No," she choked. "Stop, this isn't right."

 _The betrayal. Will you just roll over and accept it? Are you truly that desperate for attention?_

She could feel tears fall onto her hands as she pushed herself up onto her knees.

 _Do it for me,_ the voice said as it changed strategy. _Fight them for me. Avenge me, Sister._

Wanda sobbed as she felt her mind split in two. She didn't know whether to scream for help or let the whispers guide her.

"Leave me alone," she cried.

Her hair whipped around her and breathing became harder as air spun around her. It took Wanda a moment to realize that it was her power suffocating her and not a sudden wind storm.

She watched in horror as the veins in her hands turned black, tinting her skin grey as they crawled up her arms.

" _It's time to go home. You've been allowed to play far too long,"_ Pietro said as he kneeled down beside her. Wanda looked into his dark eyes and saw all of her fears reflected in them.

"Wanda!" she heard someone call out.

She knew that voice. The face was distorted in her memory, but she knew that voice. It gave her a sense of relief.

"Wanda, look at me," it demanded.

Wanda could feel someone tilt her head up and all she could see was blue. She smiled.

"James," she muttered.

"Wanda, stay with me," he said. She faintly heard other voices coming closer but all she could see was him.

"I'm sorry," she cried, not caring that her face would be blotchy and she'd have snot running down her nose. "I'm sorry."

She turned her head in time to see Pietro lunge at her.

The instant his skin touched hers, everything went black.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating regularly, I've been busy with school and other stuff. Anyway, I think we're nearing the end with this story! Maybe one more chapter and that's it. I don't know when the next update will be though.

Anyway, I don't own the characters or their history.

Enjoy!

X_X_X

Wanda stood on the sidewalk as she looked at the remains of her childhood home. The wind blew through her hair gently and with it, carried the smell of goulash. Her stomach growled.

"It's almost time for dinner," she heard Pietro say beside her.

Turning to look at him, she saw a skeleton with skin stretched out tightly against his bones.

"I can't stay," she said.

He ignored her and walked closer to the ruins, opening the door laying on the floor. On the other side she heard mumblings and laughter.

"Come, I want to show you something."

Wanda took a deep breath and followed him. Crossing the threshold, she walked into the room she had in the palace. There was James on the bed, and a replica of herself was on the desk chair. It was from earlier in the day.

"What is this?" she asked.

"A dream. Something you could have if you came with me."

Wanda shook her head. "This already happened, Pietro. Like, three hours ago."

"No," he said. "This is not real."

"Then what is?" she asked with a roll of her eyes. Honestly, she was getting tired of the same thing every time.

"This is," he said, and the scene shifted.

Wanda saw herself locked up on the raft, right after she was taken in for helping Steve escape. She saw herself with messy hair, dark circles around her eyes, and overall, crazed as she laughed at nothing.

"That never happened," Wanda argued.

"It's happening right now," Pietro said.

"I got out."

"No, that's only what you thought up to help yourself cope. Steve never came back, Wanda. No one did. They left you there."

Tears stung at Wanda as she glanced at herself once more. Being locked up like that, being _tied up_ like that was one of the worst moments in her life. Could she really have dreamed everything up to escape her pain?

 _No!_ she though, clenching her fists. _I know what's real!_

"If you know what's real, then go there," Pietro mocked.

"I will! I'll wake up and be in the palace with Steve, who _did_ come back for me." Wanda clenched her eyes shut and counted to three before opening her eyes.

She was in the cell.

"No!" she yelled, rising to her feet and slamming against the metal bars. "This isn't real!"

Closing her eyes, Wanda cried. Names fell from her lips as she went through every Avenger, hoping that one of them would hear her and wake her up.

Wanda's powers shimmered around her and she directed them towards the bars. They melted upon contact and she walked through the barrier, sighing in relief when the scene changed once more.

"You were easier to manipulate a few weeks ago," Pietro said.

Wanda turned around to face him and glared.

"I'm not falling for your lies. You're not Pietro."

He grinned and grew until he was nearly seven feet tall. His bones popped out in unnatural angles. Wanda gasped as his eyes turned black and hid skin peeled away to reveal rotting muscle underneath.

"Fine. We'll do this my way, then," the creature said and lunged for her.

A scream tore out of Wanda lips as she ran from the figure, not noticing until it was too late that it was exactly what he wanted her to do, if the smile was anything to go by.

She stumbled and realized she was standing in mud. It started moving and hands began to reach out, grabbing on to her clothes and pulling. Wanda grumbled as she tried to pull away but it felt like the more she struggled, the fasted she sunk.

"Why are you doing this?" she yelled. The creature grinned and slime fell from its mouth as it answered.

"Because you reek of fear and insecurity. Devouring you will be my greatest feast, and when I'm done, you'll be nothing but a shell of who you once were. Nobody will love you, no one will even want to look at you. It'll be perfect for spreading onto others."

Wanda coughed as the mud started to make its way into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she had no choice but to let Death pull her under.

 _Or up?_ she thought as she was lifted upwards.

"Wanda, are you okay?" a familiar voice asked in a panic. He shook her harshly and she opened her eyes to see James standing in front of her with his hands on her shoulders.

"James? What-?" she paused.

Looking around, she noticed she wasn't in the mud anymore. Not even a speck of dirt was on her. Instead, she saw her bed, wrinkled as if someone had been sleeping in it.

"Oh, another one," she mumbled.

"What are you talking about? Another what?" James asked.

"You're not real," Wanda said, reaching up to caress his cheek.

He shook her again.

"Snap out of it! We need to find a way out."

In all of her dreams, he never said anything like that.

"Where's Wendy?" she asked him, because she didn't want another repetition of what had happened in her previous dreams. Nightmares. Whatever.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't even know her!" he groaned as he took her hand and dragged her to the door.

"No, wait, I know how this goes, you don't have to take me there. I know you don't like me, there's nothing you need to prove," she struggled against his hold.

"Damn in, Wanda! What the hell are you talking about? We need to get out of here, now!"

James opened the door and there stood Wendy, in all her naked glory.

Wanada felt her heart sputter as James stopped to look her.

Wendy grinned. "James, baby, come back with me. I'm lonely without you in bed." The woman ran one hand over her chest and the other one trailed down her stomach, fingers dancing down to her core.

"Wendy…?" James asked.

The woman's green eyes sparkled in lust as she inserted one finger into herself and pulled back, putting her glistening finger into her mouth. Wendy moaned in delight.

"You thought I'd prefer _that_ over _you_?" James asked in clear disgust as he turned to glare at Wanda.

Words stuck in her throat. Wanda watched in awe as James pushed Wendy aside and ran through the door, leading her away from the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" she mumbled to herself.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," James said in a pinched voice.

"Follow me," came Pietro's voice from behind her. Whipping around, she saw her brother, exactly like she remembered him.

"Like hell we will!" James argued, wrapping an arm around her defensively.

Wanda looked into Pietro's eyes. Mischievous blue twinkled back at her, but she could also see the worry around the edges of his eyes.

"Or not," he smirked. "We could waste our time standing around, waiting for those assholes to come find us."

Wanda's lips twitched. She looked up at James and wondered which dream he came from. Should he stay behind? Did it make her crazy for wanting to drag him along with her, even if he was just a figment of her imagination?

"He's not," Pietro said.

"Not what?" James asked.

Wanda felt the blood drain from her face as Pietro's words clicked in her brain. James was _in_ her mind! And to think that all this time he was worried that she'd enter his brain without invitation. She'd come back to this once they got out of her head.

Pietro took hold of her hand and they suddenly found themselves standing in an open field.

"Are we back?" James asked.

"Kind of," Pietro said. "You still have to wake up."

Wanda shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

"This is a dream," Pietro explained.

"No shit, Sherlock."

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Look, you're over there."

Turning, James and Wanda saw themselves kneeling on the ground, surrounded by what appeared to be her powers. Black climbed up both their knees and tears were streaming down Wanda's face. James had a scowl on his.

"He was dragged in here with you."

"What? Why would you _do_ that!" Wanda exclaimed, turning to glare at James.

"Like I was going to let you deal with this on your own? I meant what I said, Wanda. I'm here for you."

Wanda didn't know whether to smack him upside the head for being so reckless or to pull him in for a kiss for being to ridiculously caring.

"I'd take option number one," Pietro said.

Wanda rolled her eyes.

"What?" James asked with a tilt of his head.

Shaking her head, Wanda grasped James' hand. "Don't mind him, he's just invading my privacy by reading my thoughts."

"We're one in the same in here, Wand. There's no escaping me."

Wanda bit back her smile as she looked at her brother.

"Look, I came to help. Like always, you get yourself lost too deep inside your head and can't get out. It requires tough love and a hard tug to get you out of there. You should take notes, lover boy," he said, elbowing James.

Wanda felt flames spread across her face. James grinned in response.

"Now, you have to get out."

"Will I see you again?" Wanda wondered.

Her twin frowned. "I can't, Wanda. I'm dead, and I only came this once to get you on the right track. But I have to go back, Mum and Dad are waiting for me."

Wanda choked as many emotions rained down on her.

"You found them?"

"Yeah," he said. "And they're waiting for you, too. But not right now, Wanda. You've still got so much more to live for. You have a new family who needs you out there. We miss you, but we can wait for you to come home."

"Pietro…" Wanda reached out to him. His hand in hers was soft and his nails just a little too long. Wanda bit down on her lip as her eyes began to sting.

"Watch over her?" Pietro looked over her shoulder.

"I'll keep her safe," James promised.

"I'm not ready," Wanda confessed.

Pietro's mask cracked and she could see a tear slide down his cheek.

"Wanda. Darling, I know it hurts, but you're so strong and brave. I _know_ you can make it. Out of the two of us, you were always the strongest one. If this had been reversed, and you were the one who died, I would've followed you within seconds. But look at you, you're out there living your life. You became an _Avenger_ , Wanda. You made great friends and you have a new family who will do anything to protect you."

Wanda cried more as his image blurred in front of her. Coming closer, Pietro used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

She remembered she was holding James' hand when she felt the metal arm gently squeeze her hand.

The twins both glanced at him.

"Yeah. You'll be in good hands," Pietro said, smiling at James and Wanda.

Letting go of James, Wanda wrapped her arms around her brother. "I miss you. I love you. Don't haunt anyone without me."

Pietro laughed. "I love you, too, Wanda."

Taking a step back, Pietro gave the pair a teary grin before fading from view. Wanda took in a shuddering breath, feeling like everything around her was falling apart.

"Come here," James said, wrapping his arms around her. "Let's go home."

Wanda calmed herself down. Taking another, more relaxed breath in, she cleared her mind and focused on her surroundings. Closing her eyes, she could feel the negative energy tangling itself into her brain, destroying everything she'd fought to make of herself and magnifying all of her faults. Deep within her, she could feel something living, growing, and infecting her with poison.

Letting anger course through her, the blackness hummed in delight. Wanda smirked and used her powers to pull at the dark, tearing its vines from her being. It fought back and ripped at her insides, leaving burning gashes behind.

James tightened his grip on Wanda as she shook in his arms. Seeing her face contort in pain, he wanted to shake her out of whatever trance she was in, but something, perhaps Pietro's lingering essence, held him back.

Red burst from Wanda's hands as she let out a deafening shriek.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey everyone! Do y'all hate me or what? I know I do! I reread this and became mad because it wasn't finished. Ha!

Anyway, here's the final chapter (almost half a year later).

I own nothing!

X_X_X

A rhythmic beating broke through Wanda's foggy mind. She tried to sit up but found that she couldn't move. Panic climbed up her throat.

 _Relax. I think they have us sedated._

Wanda somehow mentally jerked at the voice inside her head.

 _James?_ she thought, clinging to the familiarity of him. Flashes of what she'd gone through, dreamt of, crossed her mind and she mentally shut down all of her emotions. She would not be fooled by dreams anymore.

 _You're not dreaming, silly,_ James thought at her. _I'm actually talking to you right now._

 _How?_

 _I'm not sure. Maybe it had something to do with your power explosion._

Wanda's silence conveyed all of the questions she didn't know how to phrase yet.

 _I've only heard bits and pieces, but it sounds like your powers exploded as soon as we "woke up." I've heard Shuri say that she's going to make you work in the field since you destroyed it._

 _Of course,_ Wanda thought. She almost died and the only thing anyone cared about was the stupid field.

To her side, Wanda heard doors slide open and soft footsteps making their way closer to her.

"Yeah, I'm here. I got a reading of elevated brain activity. No, they're still sleeping. Steve, we're not doing this again. Let me take care of them, I'll tell you if anything changes," Shuri said with finality.

Wanda heard the princess shift around in the room before returning to her computer to type.

 _Think we should tell her?_

Wanda sent a mental shrug at James.

 _You've been awake longer than me, why haven't you told her?_

Annoyance washed over her, but it felt odd. It took her a second to realize it wasn't hers.

 _I don't know what sedative they used, but it's very strong. I can't move._

 _Gasp,_ Wanda thought at him. _A sedative that has kept the Winter Soldier locked in his own body? Impossible!_

 _Ha ha,_ James thought at her. Frustration rang clearer in her head and this time she knew it was an emotion from both of them.

Trying to move her hand, Wanda found it mentally draining to the point where her thoughts were beginning to make no sense anymore.

 _What the hell?_ Wanda thought at James. She couldn't hear his reply over the sudden rush of magic coursing through her mind and body. She felt her teeth clench in an attempt to remove the sedative from her being.

A single tear was her reward for the trouble.

"Alright, what's going on? I can see the brainwaves but no action. Give me something, Wanda," Shuri said from the computer.

 _If you just came closer…_ James echoed her thoughts.

A few seconds later, they heard Shuri get up from her desk and walk over to where Wanda laid. A gasp escaped Shuri's lips.

"Oh, Wanda! I know, sweetie, I know," she said, wiping Wanda's lone tear away. "Come on, fight harder. I know you can come back to us."

 _Is she-_

 _Shut up, I need to focus,_ Wanda cut him off, trying to think about what to say.

 _How about, "turn the damn sedative off?"_

Wanda rolled her eyes, but complied anyway, using her powers to push the thought into Shuri's mind.

"What the hell?" Shuri gasped, looking down at the resting woman. It must've been her imagination. The pressure to bring the pair back was starting to get to her.

Having still been in her mind at the time, Wanda heard her inner ramblings.

 _Oh, for fuck's sake, Shuri! Take the damn IV out of us! We'll never wake up with the thing continuously drugging us._

"Okay, now I believe it's you," Shuri laughed, moving around the bed to carefully take out the needle from both her patients.

"Just so you know, though, I'm really proud of this medicine. It's strong enough to keep my brother down."

"'S ston-strong 'nuff to ke-eep any 'un down," Wanda managed to mumble as she felt her powers chase the morphine out of her system. The numbness still lingered, though.

"So bored you've started talking to yourself?" came Steve's voice from somewhere in the room.

Wanda wanted to open her eyes but they were too heavy.

"Steve! What did I say?"

"I tried to keep him away but he kept saying he had a 'gut feeling'. He's beginning to sound like Stark's kid with the ridiculous spidey sense," Natasha's voice cut into Wanda's haze.

She felt James' mind focus on his tongue and its movement. Wanda wondered why until she heard his voice ring out in the room. "Getting that punk to do anything is impossible."

Wanda mentally growled at him in annoyance as he chuckled in response. How could he talk so easily?

Around them, silence overtook the room before Steve's feet were pounding on the floor, rushing to James' side.

"Buck, can you hear me? Can you move? Give me a signal?"

Wanda's lips spread into a smile as she saw James' plan right before she heard the smack of his hand against Steve's head.

"That a good enough signal for you? You're sitting on my leg."

She heard James sit up and Shuri went to talk to him and Steve. Beside her, she felt the bed shift and a hand grasped her own.

"So when do you plan on getting up?" Natasha said in a soft voice— way too low for any of the guys to hear over their reunion.

Wanda tried to open her eyes but just the thought of it had her drained.

 _Soon,_ was all Wanda could think at Nat.

The other woman stiffened as the thought entered her mind. Wanda realized she hadn't done that with any of the Avengers before, and that doing so wouldn't make them trust her any more than they already did.

"Did you… Was that you?" Natasha asked, letting go of Wanda's hand and sounding slightly harsher than she intended to. Without thinking, Wanda offered a small nod of her head.

Natasha took in a ragged breath as she contemplated this. She didn't like Wanda putting thoughts in her head, but if that was how she could communicate right now… Well, she would have to do something about that.

Squaring her shoulders, Nat got off the bed and leaned over Wanda, grabbing her shoulders and gently sitting her up.

"What are you doing?" came Steve's scandalized response.

"Helping," Nat snapped back.

Wanda focused her powers on keeping her up straight when Nat let go of her. A moment later, her left eye was opened by someone's thumb. A bright light flashed in her eye and she involuntarily jerked back, shaking her head.

"Are ye tryin' to blind meh?" was her brilliant response. She could hear James' laughter coming closer to her bed. She felt the bed dip and a hand wrapped around her wrist.

"Wanda, are you okay?" Steve asked.

Wanda opened her eyes and saw Steve leaning in towards her, worry etched on his face. Behind him stood James and Shuri. To the other side of her bed stood Nat.

"Jus' a lil numb still," she managed to say.

Shuri nodded and walked closer, placing a hand on Steve's shoulders. "I need to check up on them. Can you come back later?"

Steve turned to give her an incredulous look.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Shuri sighed. "Can you at least back up a bit so I can make sure they're alright?"

"I'm fine, it's her you need to check," James spoke. Wanda glared at him as he grinned at her.

"I will check both of you, but I need her first to make sure she's going to be alright."

Wanda nodded and glanced at Natasha. "Thank you."

Nat nodded and quickly leaned over to squeeze her hand. She backed away but never took her eyes off of her.

"I'll be right there," Steve said, pointing to where Nat stood.

 _And I'll be with them_ , James added. Wanda nodded her head in response to both.

"Alright then!" Shuri exclaimed.

"How am I, doc?" Wanda asked with a grin.

With a smirk, Shuri pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper from her lab coat. "I've been updating it all night as the results keep changing, but I'm pretty confident it's an accurate representation of you right now."

Wand took the paper and unfolded it to see the same crude drawing of herself that Shuri had shown her on the roof. However, there were eraser marks all over the page and this time the red was down to her ankles.

"I can live with this," Wanda said with a smile.

Shuri grimaced. "You might not have any other choice. I've tried everything I can but that last bit won't leave."

Wanda tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Shuri began, sitting beside her. "I've noticed that with your powers it either has a growing or killing effect on the organisms, which I realized comes from the nightmares you pull. It's toxic in itself and you've been absorbing it into your body."

"It's a miracle you didn't die," Steve said.

"She almost did," Shuri said. "When you lose control of your powers it lends itself to the virus, making it turn against you. But when you're in control, it's able to kill off the infection."

Wanda sat in stunned silence.

"What about the bit that's still in her? Is it still dangerous?" Natasha asked.

Shuri shrugged. "I'm not sure. Wanda seems good and in better control of herself, but I'd still like to keep her under constant observation to make sure it doesn't grow anymore. Wanda," Shuri said, making sure to look into the Witch's eyes. "I need you to tell me if you feel any different than you do at this moment, okay?"

Wanda nodded.

"Also," Shuri added before pinching Wanda's arm. "That's for scaring the crap out of me!"

"Ow!" Wanda scrunched her face in pain and rubbed her arm once Shuri let go. "What the hell? That hurt," she pouted.

 _It hurt?_ James thought at her.

Wanda's eyes widened in realization. _It hurt!_

"Shuri! It hurt!" Wanda repeated her thoughts.

"I should hope so," Shuri said, crossing her arms. Wanda jumped up from the bed and instantly fell but made sure to land on the princess in a hug. She laughed in happiness— she could _feel_ again.

"Shuri, I love you. Marry me?" Wanda teased as she looked at Shuri.

The young royal made a face. "Not likely. Especially smelling the way you do, you need a shower."

X_X_X

Wanda was brushing her hair later that night when she felt her mind buzz with excitement. With a small smile, she put down the brush and opened the door with her powers. James stood on the other side with his fist raised, about to knock.

"It's odd, being able to tell when you're near," James said as he stepped in. Wanda made space for him to sit next to her.

"I know. The only other person I could feel like this was Pietro. But even then, it wasn't as strong."

The pair sat in silence as they wondered about their new connection. Eventually, both their thoughts turned to their unclear relationship status. Being able to tell what the other was thinking made the situation more awkward than before.

"For the record," James broke the silence. "I would never go for a woman like Wendy. I hope you know that."

Wanda flushed. "Yeah, I know that now."

"Why didn't you before?"

"I—" Wanda sighed and poked at the skin around her fingernails. "I was too deep into my mind, into my nightmares. I couldn't see anything past that. I was mixing make-belief with reality and I didn't know what was real anymore. I'm sorry for what I said."

James' gaze softened and he took Wanda's hand in his own. She looked up at him. "Apology accepted. I just want you to know that I _do_ like you. I want to see where this goes out of my own accord, not because I'm trying to please Steve."

Wanda felt her face getting hotter than it already was. Out of embarrassment, she tried to pull back her hand but James tightened his grip on it. Giving up, she took in a shuddering breath.

"I don't know how to love— that's something Hyrda took from me. But I will give you the best of me. I know it's not enough, but—"

"It's enough!" Wanda cut in. His expression seemed lost but hope swam in his eyes. "It's enough for me, James. Always."

His answering smile had her shifting as something awoke within her. Clearing her throat, she looked down at their joined hands.

"I just ask that you're patient with me. Hydra still lingers in my mind too, and nightmares are something that will always be a part of me now. But I know what I feel and I like being with you. I enjoy you."

Wanda risked a glance up and nearly melted at the smirk on his face which somehow radiated smugness and genuine happiness at the same time.

Her lips parted as she gasped and next thing she knew his lips were pressed against hers. Without hesitation, she reached up to tangle her hands in his hair as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

Her mind was intoxicated with his scent— cinnamon and coffee and lavender. She moaned against his mouth and her eyes snapped open in embarrassment. Pulling back with a smack of their lips, she glanced at anywhere but him.

 _Wanda_ , came the voice in her head.

She peeked under her eyelashes and he was smiling at her. Leaning his forehead against hers he took in a deep breath. Wanda closed her eyes as he exhaled and his breath fanned over her face.

 _I enjoy you, too._

Wanda felt a grin spread across her face and opened her eyes to see his closed and a peaceful smile gracing his mouth. Gently she reached up to trace his lips. She let her hands run over his jaw— the pricks of his facial hair sending tingles down her body. She leaned in and rubbed her nose with his.

"I think Steve wants to say something," she finally said.

James' eyes snapped open and annoyance sparkled among the happiness in his blue orbs. "Can't he wait?"

Wanda laughed as she pulled away and made sure her and his hair were presentable. "I'm afraid not. He's walking down the hall right now. His thoughts are practically screaming."

Wanda stood up and walked to the door, opening just as Steve was about to reach for the handle.

"You weren't even going to knock?" Wanda asked with a raised eyebrow.

Steve shrugged and walked into the room. "It's just you two in here."

"We're going to have to talk about your interruptions, pal," James said from the bed. Steve's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Leave him alone," Wanda said, wrapping her arm around Steve's. "He's still an innocent child."

"I'll say," James chuckled. "Have you even told Nat you like her?"

The pair laughed as Steve's ears and neck turned the most delicate shade of pink.

"Anyway," Steve said, clearing his throat in embarrassment. "I came here to talk."

Wanda rolled her eyes. "Great, another one."

James playfully glared at her. "Are you saying you didn't enjoy our talk?"

Wanda grinned. Again, Steve cleared his throat.

"Wanda, I want to make sure this doesn't happen again. How can we prevent it?"

She shrugged. "It's a lot to do with my own perception of things. What I understand from this is that it takes advantages of your weakness— be it physical or mental. Mine happened to be mental and I allowed it to overpower me. I can prevent it for now but what if I reach another low and it comes back like a cold? Shuri said it was like a virus, it's not entirely impossible for it to attack again."

"But what can we do to keep you from being unhappy?" Steve urged.

"Not much," Wanda admitted. "It happened because in a short amount of time I lost my parents, my brother. Lagos and Berlin happened and on top of that, I felt rejected by my team and like I couldn't be myself without them judging me. This illness knew to use that against me and suddenly I felt unworthy of anyone or anything. I blamed myself for every bad thing that happened."

 _Wanda…_

 _It's true. I'm not going to hide it anymore, even if it hurts._

And it did hurt. Steve looked like he'd just seen his best friend fall from the train all over again. James looked at Wanda and got up from the bed to walk to her side.

 _I'm sorry you felt that way._

 _It isn't your fault._

 _But I didn't do anything to help you. I didn't notice…_

Wanda shook her head and sent him a warm smile. _It's okay. I wasn't very cooperative either._

Steve looked at the pair and despite his sudden guilt, he felt a smirk try to fight its way onto his face. However, he won and his expression remained sullen.

"Wanda, I—"

"Steve, don't. I don't have to go into your mind to know you're taking the blame for this. I mean, some of it does fall on you guys, but some of it also comes on me. I was the one who refused to accept that my entire family was dead. I was the one beating myself up every night, calling myself a murderer for killing innocent people. Those are things you can't control."

Steve and James looked at each other. With a sigh, Steve looked back and ruffled Wanda's hair, much to her annoyance.

"You're right, babe. We're going to have to look out for each other and take better care of ourselves."

 _Babe?_

 _Pft. You act like it's the first time you've heard him call me that._

 _I didn't mind it before._

Wanda rolled her eyes and Steve narrowed his eyes at her and James.

"Alright, what am I missing here?"

James shrugged. "Nothing."

Wanda offered him a smile in response and finally let go of his arm to go over to the bed.

"Alright, I'm heading over to Nat's room for a bit if that's cool with you guys," she said. At that moment there was a knock on the door and Shuri walked in right after.

"Hey, Wanda— Oh! You two are here too."

"Me too," came the reply from behind Shuri. They saw Natasha standing there in her jeans and hoodie.

Wanda sighed in annoyance. "Party at my place, I guess."

Shuri grinned and walked deeper into the room. "I just came here to tell you that your powers are the antibiotic for the virus we found in you."

Wanda blinked.

"What do you mean?" asked James.

"Well," Shuri began. "As I explained before, Wanda's powers either kills it or feeds it. And I discovered that combining her blood with vibranium draws out the magical elements which can then be used to kill off the virus. There's a lot more behind that, but that's the main point I'm trying to tell. I've tried it on many samples of my own blood and it's worked every time."

The room was stunned. Even Steve, who always has something to say, kept quiet.

"Does that mean you need more of my blood?" Wanda finally asked.

Shuri grinned but shook her head. "It's not necessary. I can just combine your powers with the vibranium, which will absorb it and keep it there until it reacts with the organism's elemental make-up."

Wanda nodded, pretending to understand what she said.

"When would you be able to do that?" Nat asked.

"I already did," Shuri grinned. She pulled up her sleeve and took a bracelet from her wrist, offering it to Wanda.

Once in her hand, Wanda could feel the hum of her magic coming from the little beads. Taking a closer look, she noticed red swirls within the metal, shimmering as she turned it in her fingers.

"It's gorgeous. Thank you, Shuri."

"It was nothing. If you can stop by the lab tomorrow, I'd like to make more of these to give out to everyone. Not that they're infected, but it's better to be prepared."

"Of course," Wanda smiled.

With that, the princess bid her goodbyes and left. The room grew quiet.

"I'm not going to hide anymore," Wanda stated. James nodded but Natasha and Steve looked at her with concern.

"I've been so afraid of my powers and what they could do, that they turned against me. With Hydra that never happened— instead, they grew. Each day I became more powerful."

"Are you saying you're going back to your Hydra days?" Nat asked.

Wanda shook her head. "I won't. But I'm not going to tiptoe around you guys anymore. My powers are for bad guys, I understand that. But I'm not a bad person and I shouldn't have to keep proving myself to you guys. Everyone focuses on the bad I do instead of the good and it feels like that's all you see me as. Hydra's ex-weapons. Ultron's ex-assistants. Whatever."

Wanda's eyes stung and her face felt like it was burning up. James walked over to her and took her hand in his.

 _I'm right here_ , he thought.

Gaining strength from him, she looked at the other two directly in the eyes.

"You can accept me as I am or not. But I refuse to be shamed for a past that I have fought hard to make right."

Everyone in the room was surprised to see the Black Widow move first. She came over and grasped Wanda's shoulder, offering a half-smile.

 _Are we okay?_ Wanda placed the question in Nat's mind. She stiffened in response but closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. "Yes, we're okay."

Wanda nodded and with that, Nat walked out of the room.

Steve looked at the door and back to Wanda before glancing down at her hand— which was still joined with James'.

She felt her face burn as Steve's smirk grew on his face.

"So I'm not missing anything, huh?"

James shrugged. "Not really. You already knew I'd end up with her. We both thought that'd be years from now but apparently she thought me worthy right now."

 _Can you not?_ Wanda complained, feeling her face burn hotter than any other time before.

James laughed and pulled up their hands to give her's a kiss. _I enjoy you._

 _Yeah, I can tell you enjoy watching me suffer._

Steve cleared his throat again and Wanda realized that without noticing, she was now grinning up at James.

"Yeah, we can read each other's minds now and we're having mushy conversations with each other," James grinned.

Steve's ears went pink and he straightened up.

"Well, I'm just happy I can't hear them. Seeing you two together is weird enough. If I had to hear what you're thinking… I don't think I'd make it."

Wanda laughed and let go of James' hand to go over and hug Steve. "I'm glad I have you in my life."

"You're still my babe," he said, wrapping his arms around her. James gave the two a mock glare and Steve answered by sticking out his tongue.

Wanda, unaware of their exchange, pulled away and looked at her two favorite Avengers with a hidden smirk.

"So. Now that my love life is figured out— Who wants to begin on Plan Romanogers?"

X_X_X

GUYS! This is the end! I'm so terribly sorry for taking so long to finish it. Originally I was just going to take a one week break but then life hit me and here I am, many months later. Just as a reminder, I do have another completed WinterWitch story for those who would like to view it. It's called You Found Me and you can access it via my profile. Thank you for reading!


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